The earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale that shook southeastern Turkey on Monday, near the border with Syria and which caused some 1,500 deaths, was one of the strongest recorded in the last 100 years.
The earthquake occurred at 4:17 a.m. (1:17 a.m. in Lisbon) today, 33 kilometers from the provincial capital of Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, near the border with Syria, at a depth of 17.9 kilometers.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) the earthquake registered a magnitude of 7.8 and dozens of aftershocks were felt.
Today’s earthquake was one of the strongest in 100 years, along with the one that struck Erzincan in eastern Turkey on December 26, 1939, also measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. This 1939 earthquake left more than 32,000 dead and caused a ‘tsunami’ in the Black Sea, located about 160 kilometers from the epicenter.
The earthquake that caused the most deaths in the last 50 years, with a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter scale, occurred on August 17, 1999 and its epicenter was located in Izmir, in the northwest of the country, with some 17,000 deaths. , 500,000 homeless, 45,000 injured and 15 million affected.
The last tremor that had caused more than a hundred deaths in Turkey occurred on October 30, 2020, with a magnitude of 6.8 and an epicenter in the Aegean Sea, 60 kilometers south of the city of Izmir. In all, 115 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Turkey and two more died on the Greek island of Samos.
On September 6, 1975, 3,000 people died after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Lice in Turkey’s Anatolian region. More than 4,000 people died in a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Van province, near the border with Iran, which caused the most damage in Caldiran and Muradiye on November 24, 1976.
On October 30, 1983, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake killed more than 1,300 people in Erzurum, eastern Anatolia. On August 17, 1999, an earthquake of magnitude 7.4 with its epicenter in Izmir, in northwestern Turkey, also felt in Istanbul, left around 17,000 dead, 500,000 homeless, 45,000 injured and 15 million affected.
On November 12, 1999, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake with its epicenter in Duzce, in the northwest of the country, caused around 900 deaths and almost 5,000 injuries. The most affected populations were Bolu, the provincial capital, Kaynasli and Duzce.
In the last 50 years, there is no precedent in Syria for an earthquake that has caused as many victims and damage as the one that is registered today.
According to the AFP news agency, the earthquake was felt in Lebanon and Cyprus.
Source: TSF
