2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes
Also known as 2023 Southern Anatolia earthquake, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, 2023 -Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, 2023 Pazarcık earthquake
The earthquake that caused destruction in Türkiye and Syria on February 6, 2023
AI overview
On February 6, 2023, a powerful earthquake struck Türkiye and Syria, causing widespread destruction across both countries. This disaster matters because it was one of the deadliest earthquakes in recent history, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving millions homeless, making it a major humanitarian crisis that affected the region for years afterward.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Collage of 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake.jpg
- Number of deaths
- 50132
- Number of injured
- 120000
Show 6 more facts
- point in time
- 2023-02-06
- vertical depth
- 17.9
- Commons category
- 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes
- earthquake magnitude on the moment magnitude scale
- 7.8
- earthquake magnitude on the Richter magnitude scale
- 7.8
- aftershocks
- 2109
Sources (13)
~40 min read
Article
On 6 February 2023, at 04:17:35 TRT (01:17:35 UTC), a moment magnitude (Mw ) 7.8 earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria. The epicenter was 37 km (23 mi) west–northwest of Gaziantep. This strike-slip shock achieved a Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme) around the epicenter and in Antakya. It was followed by a Mw 7.7 earthquake, at 13:24:49 TRT (10:24:49 UTC). This earthquake was centered 95 km (59 mi) north-northwest from the first. There was widespread severe damage and tens of thousands of fatalities.
The Mw 7.8 earthquake is the largest to strike Turkey since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake of the same magnitude, and jointly the second-largest in the country, after larger estimates for the 1668 North Anatolia earthquake. It is also one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in the Levant. It was felt as far as Egypt and the Black Sea coast of Turkey. There were more than 30,000 aftershocks in the three months that followed. The seismic sequence was the result of shallow strike-slip faulting along segments of the Dead Sea Transform, East Anatolian and Sürgü–Çardak faults.
Gallery (12)
On the map
2 mapped locations