Mag 7.8, 7.5, 6.7 and 6.0 earthquakes and aftershocks in Turkey

[Astronuc]

M 7.8 - Central Turkey - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jllz/executive

• 2023-02-06 01:17:35 (UTC)
• 37.174°N 37.032°E
• 17.9 km depth

M 7.5 - 4 km SSE of Ekinözü, Turkey - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jlqa/executive

• 2023-02-06 10:24:49 (UTC)
• 38.024°N 37.203°E
• 10.0 km depth

M 6.7 - Central Turkey - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jlm1/executive

• 2023-02-06 01:28:15 (UTC)
• 37.127°N 36.943°E
• 14.5 km depth

M 6.0 - 5 km NE of Göksun, Turkey - https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jlrc/executive

• 2023-02-06 12:02:11 (UTC)
• 38.061°N 36.537°E
• 10.0 km depth

Four strong earthquakes all fairly shallow.

Off the south coast of Pakistan and southeast coast of Iran, the Makran trench is the present-day surface expression of active subduction of the Arabia plate beneath the continental Eurasia plate, which converge at a rate of approximately 20 mm/yr. Although the Makran subduction zone has a relatively slow convergence rate, it has produced large devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. For example, the November 27, 1945 M8.0 mega-thrust earthquake produced a tsunami within the Gulf of Oman and Arabia Sea, killing over 4,000 people. Northwest of this active subduction zone, collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates forms the approximately 1,500-km-long fold and thrust belt of the Zagros Mountains, which crosses the whole of western Iran and extends into northeastern Iraq. Collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates also causes crustal shortening in the Alborz Mountains and Kopet Dag in northern Iran. Eastern Iran experiences destructive earthquakes that originate on both strike-slip and reverse faults. For example, the 16 September 1978 M7.8 earthquake, along the southwest edge of the Dasht-e-Lut Basin killed at least 15,000 people.

Along the eastern margin of the Mediterranean region there is complex interaction between the Africa, Arabia and Eurasia plates. The Red Sea Rift is a spreading center between the Africa and Arabia plates, with a spreading rate of approximately 10mm/yr near its northern end, and 16mm/yr near its southern end (Chu, D. and Gordon, R. G., 1998). Seismicity rate and size of earthquakes has been relatively small along the spreading center, but the rifting process has produced a series of volcanic systems across western Saudi Arabia.

Further north, the Red Sea Rift terminates at the southern boundary of the Dead Sea Transform Fault. The Dead Sea Transform is a strike-slip fault that accommodates differential motion between the Africa and Arabia plates. Though both the Africa plate, to the west, and the Arabia plate, to the east, are moving in a NNE direction, the Arabia plate is moving slightly faster, resulting in the left-lateral, strike-slip motion along this segment of the plate boundary. Historically, earthquake activity along the Dead Sea Transform has been a significant hazard in the densely populated Levant region (eastern Mediterranean). For example, the November 1759 Near East earthquake is thought to have killed somewhere between 2,000-20,000 people. The northern termination of the Dead Sea Transform occurs within a complex tectonic region of southeast Turkey, where interaction of the Africa and Arabia plates and the Anatolia block occurs. This involves translational motion of the Anatolia Block westwards, with a speed of approximately 25mm/yr with respect to Eurasia, in order to accommodate closure of the Mediterranean basin.

The right-lateral, strike-slip North Anatolia Fault, in northern Turkey, accommodates much of the westwards motion between the Anatolia Block and Eurasia Plate. Between 1939 and 1999, a series of devastating M7.0+ strike-slip earthquakes propagated westwards along the North Anatolia Fault system. The westernmost of these earthquakes was the 17th August 1999, M7.6 Izmit earthquake, near the Sea of Marmara, killed approximately 17,000 people.

At the southern edge of the Anatolia Block lies the east-west trending Cyprian Arc with associated levels of moderate seismicity. The Cyprian Arc represents the convergent boundary between the Anatolia Block to the north and the Africa Plate to the south. The boundary is thought to join the East Anatolia Fault zone in eastern Turkey; however no certain geometry or sense of relative motion along the entire boundary is widely accepted.

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jllz/region-info
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jllz/map

 

[Baluncore]

In the Eastern suburbs of Adana in Turkey, is the Incerlik Airbase, a massive NATO base.
It will be interesting to see what part it plays in the recovery process.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incirlik_Air_Base

 

[DrClaude]

Some incredible footage: https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...ke-2023-live-updates-quake-tremor-latest-news

 

[Astronuc]

So the earthquakes involve the region along the East Anatolia Fault (Doğu Anadolu Fay Hattı)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Anatolian_Fault#/media/File:Anatolian_Plate.png

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Anatolian_Fault

And the southeast Taurus mountains (güneydoğu toroslar)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_Mountains#Southeastern_Taurus

 

[StevieTNZ]

Information on how people can help: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/06/world/iyw-how-to-help-turkey-syria-earthquake-victims/index.html

 

[Astronuc]

Death toll from Turkey earthquake rises to more than 3,400! The number was 2800 when I first read the article, and it was quickly updated.

ADANA, Turkey (AP) — A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkey and neighboring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,800 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled thousands of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble.

Authorities feared the death toll would keep climbing as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis.

https://apnews.com/article/earthquake-shakes-turkey-b927808f6a5c54bdb669120faa40b7bc

 

[Astronuc]

AP reports that "The earthquakes were felt as far as Cairo, Egypt, and Beirut, Lebanon".

Videos show buildings collapse.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/apocalypse-videos-show-devastation-huge-174611629.html

The magnitude of the destruction on towns and cities is horrendous.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64541194

 

[dlgoff]

Death toll from Turkey earthquake ...

from: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/earthquake-turkey-syria-live-updates-rcna69449

In Turkey, at least 5,434 people were killed and 22,168 injured, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Some 8,000 people have been rescued from the rubble. In Syria, at least 812 people were killed, with another 1,832 injured, in the affected areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry.

edit:
This report is now saying 6,000 deaths:
The death toll of two devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria has surpassed 6,000 in addition to 10,000 people injured NBC News' Matt Bradley reports on ho rescue workers fear survivors trapped will not outlive cold temperatures and aftershocks throughout the night.

 

[fresh_42]

This won't be the last word. They still miss 8,000 people in Turkey alone and the area is so big that I expect a death toll about 20,000 if everyone is found / counted. If I look at the pictures now, I can only hope that I will not experience the campi flegrei in my lifetime. It will happen for sure, same as the one in Turkey and Syria was overdue in that area. Everybody Every seismologist knew ...

 

[Astronuc]

I looked at the area last night and noticed a large number of aftershocks in the Taurus Mountain range, as well as in the area between two faults along the coast of Syria. It would be interesting to know how much vertical displacement and/or lateral displacement has occurred in those areas. I also wonder what this means for future activity along the fault lines, and should we expect similar activity from Greece through Iran in the near (next several years/decades) future. In rural areas and small cities, I suspect the buildings were neither designed nor constructed for such strong earthquakes. Given the experience of the last several decades from Greece/Aegean through Iran, such earthquakes should be expected.

I've attached some screenshots from USGS Latest Earthquakes: one from last night and three from today.

 

[Astronuc]

from: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/earthquake-turkey-syria-live-updates-rcna69449

edit:
This report is now saying 6,000 deaths:
The death toll of two devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria has surpassed 6,000 in addition to 10,000 people injured. NBC News’ Matt Bradley reports on how rescue workers fear survivors trapped will not outlive cold temperatures and aftershocks throughout the night.
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/o...presidential-portrait-unveilings-147913797512

I heard a story on NPR of a woman who gave birth during the earthquake. She and her husband were killed when the building in which they lived collapsed, but the newborn baby was rescued by a relative and taken to a nearby hosptial.

Edit/Update: The newborn and parents are/were from Syria.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/newborn-umbilical-cord-intact-rescued-210654602.html

The baby's mother, father, four siblings and an aunt were all killed, the cousin said, according to AFP.

 

[dlgoff]

This won't be the last word. They still miss 8,000 people in Turkey alone and the area is so big that I expect a death toll about 20,000 if everyone is found / counted. If I look at the pictures now, I can only hope that I will not experience the campi flegrei in my lifetime. It will happen for sure, same as the one in Turkey and Syria was overdue in that area. Everybody knew ...

Very very sad. I can't imagine being in something like that. However back when I when I was in college studying at home, pencils in a glass shock around from a trimmer in Oklahoma.

 

[dlgoff]

This report is now saying 6,000 deaths:
The death toll of two devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria has surpassed 6,000 in addition to 10,000 people injured NBC News' Matt Bradley reports on ho rescue workers fear survivors trapped will not outlive cold temperatures and aftershocks throughout the night.

Dang. Every time I look at that site https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/earthquake-turkey-syria-live-updates-rcna69449, the count goes up

 

[dlgoff]

The nbcnews.com link above isn't updating right; always says 7,000 dead but 7,800 dead according to https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/06/turkey-syria-earthquake-death-toll-live-updates/

 

[Astronuc]

Now it is called Kahramanmaras earthquake(s)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/earthquakes-turkey-syria-live-updates-rcna69647

• The death toll from Monday's devastating earthquakes has soared past 11,000 and is expected to rise.
• The temblor has become the deadliest since Japan’s 9.0-magnitude quake in 2011 sparked a triple catastrophe that left more than an estimated 20,000 people dead.

The death toll has risen to 11,719 today.https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64540696

 

[dlgoff]

@Astronuc
There are many videos out there. I need to stop watching them.

 

[Astronuc]

Earthquakes are diminishing, with the strongest being Mag 4.8 in the last 24 hours.

The earthquakes occurred along the East Anatolian Fault
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Anatolian_Fault#/media/File:Anatolian_Plate_Vectoral.svg
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/06/world/turkey-earthquake-faultlines.html

Death toll exceeds 19000, and three days after the devastating quake, the death toll in Turkey and Syria neared 20,000.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/09/world/turkey-syria-earthquake

 

[russ_watters]

[Sigh]
Anti-nuclear bias so deep-seated I doubt they even recognize it:

Earthquake death toll over 19,300, surpassing that of Japan's Fukushima disaster

That's USA Today's current headline.

"The Fukushima disaster" was the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown, which killed potentially a handful of people (one confirmed I think). It was triggered by the "Tohuku earthquake and tsunami", which is what killed 18-20k (source dependent).

Edit, 2/10, CNN now has basically the same headline, same phrasing: "Japan's Fukushima disaster".

 

[pinball1970]

Terrible images.
Also, desperate families fleeing from war in Syria find refuge in Turkey then this.
Glad resources are getting over there quickly from the UK, people and kit.

 

[Astronuc]

Death toll now exceeds 23K.

Large and long fissures have been reported in the region. Reuters reports that Turkey earthquake drone footage shows fissures slicing through land.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/turkey-earthquake-drone-footage-shows-171558428.html (subscription may be required for the full article).

https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/turkey-earthquake-drone-footage-shows-fi-idUSKBN2UK1L5

https://www.trtworld.com/turkey/tür...age-shows-fissures-slicing-through-land-65334

 

[pinball1970]

Death toll now exceeds 23K.

Large and long fissures have been reported in the region. Reuters reports that Turkey earthquake drone footage shows fissures slicing through land.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/turkey-earthquake-drone-footage-shows-171558428.html (subscription may be required for the full article).

https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/turkey-earthquake-drone-footage-shows-fi-idUSKBN2UK1L5

https://www.trtworld.com/turkey/türkiye-quakes-drone-footage-shows-fissures-slicing-through-land-65334

Workers still working in those areas with aftershocks?
EDIT: Of course, stupid question. Risking their lives to save people as soon as this happened.

 

[Astronuc]

Workers still working in those areas with aftershocks?

Apparently so.
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-syria-earthquake-updates-2-11-23-intl/index.html

People are still being rescued from the rubble.

Death toll exceeds 25K:
In Turkey, the number of people killed has risen to 21,848, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In Syria, the total number of deaths stands at 3,553.

 

[pinball1970]

Apparently so.
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-syria-earthquake-updates-2-11-23-intl/index.html

People are still being rescued from the rubble.

Death toll exceeds 25K:
In Turkey, the number of people killed has risen to 21,848, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In Syria, the total number of deaths stands at 3,553.

Looking at the construction and contractors now to see what has been skipped. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...ding-contractors-earthquake-death-toll-mounts

 

[Astronuc]

Looking at the construction and contractors now to see what has been skipped.https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...ding-contractors-earthquake-death-toll-mounts

Yes, I heard interviews with Turkish and Syrian authorities and doctors.

Turkey detains building contractors as the quake death toll rises to more than 33,000​

One doctor in Idlib, Syria was actually living in Turkey, but his home is destroyed and he wants to help folks, so he's living at the hospital in Idlib, while he wife and son are back in Turkey living with someone (a friend?).

From yesterday - https://www.npr.org/2023/02/11/1155955553/turkey-earthquake-gaziantep-displaced-people
The infrastructure in southern Turkey and northern Syria is destroyed or severely damaged. Food and water are in short supply, so thousands of structures are destroyed, or damaged to the point of being uninhabitable.

 

[Astronuc]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/middleeast/turkey-syria-earthquake-recovery-intl
Good graphic showing locations of aftershocks and the major 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes.

The death toll across Turkey and Syria following Monday’s catastrophic earthquake has reached at least 34,179 on Sunday.

The death toll in Turkey has reached 29,605, Turkish Emergency Coordination Center SAKOM said Sunday.

The confirmed death toll in Syria is 4,574. That number includes more than 3,160 in opposition-held parts of northwestern Syria, according to the health ministry of the Salvation Government governance authority.

The Syrian death toll also includes 1,414 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to state news agency SANA.

https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live...12-23-intl/h_30c82a9cc029ddf81ff25fab3582348a

 

[pinball1970]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/middleeast/turkey-syria-earthquake-recovery-intl
Good graphic showing locations of aftershocks and the major 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes.https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live...12-23-intl/h_30c82a9cc029ddf81ff25fab3582348a

They do not expect to find anyone alive now according to your link.
People who survived the quakes now have the cold and lack of food and water to deal with.
Temperatures freezing at night looking at forcasts.

 

[Astronuc]

They do not expect to find anyone alive now according to your link.
People who survived the quakes now have the cold and lack of food and water to deal with.
Temperatures freezing at night looking at forcasts.

https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live...13-23-intl/h_41126da165b68e7c6314a46b331bc725

Edited/revised: Seven days after the devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, teams are still finding victims that are alive. One survivor is Huseyin Berber.

The rescue operation took place at Mimar Sinan street of Antakya. Berber was immediately taken to a hospital, Anadolu reported. Berber's rescue followed the discovery of a 13-year-old boy in Hatay.

Death toll 31,643 in Turkey, more than 5,700 in Syria = 37343
https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...er-earthquake-rubble-turkey-syria-2023-02-12/

 

[Astronuc]

A verdant olive grove was cleaved into two during last week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey, creating a valley 984 feet long (about 300 meters) that now divides the area.

Remarkable footage of the split olive grove has emerged from Turkey’s south-east Altınozu district, which borders Syria, showing a jagged, sandy-colored, canyon-like chasm. The cleavage reaches over 130 feet deep (40 meters).

Its creation is another show of the devastating power of last Monday’s magnitude 7.8 quake, which killed tens of thousands of people in Syria and Turkey and destroyed entire city blocks.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/middleeast/turkey-olive-grove-split-earthquake-intl/index.html

Last Monday’s earthquake was the strongest to hit anywhere in the world since an 8.1 magnitude quake struck a region near the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean in 2021, though the remote location of that incident resulted in little damage.

Turkey is no stranger to strong earthquakes, as it is situated along tectonic plate boundaries. Seven quakes with magnitude 7.0 or greater have struck the country in the past 25 years – but last Monday’s was its most deadly.

 

[Astronuc]

Satellite photos show surface cracks from devastating Turkey earthquake
https://www.yahoo.com/news/satellite-photos-show-surface-cracks-150000380.html

Some significant vertical displacement in places

Erzin, Turkey, the town that didn't collapse: How a tiny Turkish city avoided the earthquake's destruction
https://www.yahoo.com/news/city-didnt-collapse-earthquake-survivors-121917971.html

 

[dlgoff]

Satellite photos show surface cracks from devastating Turkey earthquake

This image from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...ned-turkish-olive-grove-huge-canyon-rcna70742 blows my mind:

 

[Baluncore]

This image ... blows my mind:

The wall shown is blocky, not slick or scarred, so it looks like it failed in tension, not as the surface expression of a vertical shear fault.

What appears to have happened is a solid landslip. A large block of sedimentary rock on a hillside with a similar slope to the bedding, slid down-slope on an incompetent mudstone layer, leaving that precipice as the headwall.

The rock slide event was triggered by the earthquake. The foot of the rock slide is not shown. If the block was wedge shape, then the foot of the slide may be insignificant.

 

[Astronuc]

M 6.3 - 3 km SSW of Uzunbağ, Turkey​

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jqcn/executive

• 2023-02-20 17:04:29 (UTC)
• 36.109°N 36.017°E
• 16.0 km depth

(CNN) – A magnitude 6.3 aftershock struck southern Turkey on Monday, two weeks after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands of people in Turkey and Syria.

The quake struck Turkey’s southern Hatay province, near the Syrian border, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said Monday.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) initially reported the quake as being of magnitude 6.4 at a depth of 10 kilometers before revising it down to 6.3 magnitude.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/magnitude-6-3-aftershock-rocks-143100286.html

That aftershock was accompanied by two smaller quakes of 4.2 (nearest) and 4.1 (further to the NNE). Further north were a 4.3 mag quake in Kahramanmaras province and a 4.1 mag quake in the mountains of Malatya province.