The number of people now known to have died following a pair of major Earthquakes in southeastern Turkey on Monday 6 February 2023 has now exceeded 6000, and is expected to rise further over the coming days. The first Earthquake struck slightly after 4.15 am local time (slightly after 1.15 am GMT), and was measured by the United States Geological Survey as a Magnitude 7.8 event at a depth of 17.9 km, 4 km to the east of the city of Nurdağı in Gaziantep Province. The second event was recorded as a Magnitude 7.5 event at a depth of 10.0 km, 4 km to the southeast of the town of Ekinözü in Kahramanmaraş Province. The two events were punctuated and followed by dozens of smaller Earthquakes, many with Magnitudes of 5.0 or greater.
The majority of the recorded fatalities s far have come from Turkey, where the number of confirmed dead had reached 3381 by 9.00 am local time on Tuesday 7 February, however it is thought that the final number of dead will be far higher in neighbouring Syria, where only 1444 fatalities had been recorded by the same time, but where infrastructure has been weakened by years of civil conflict, hampering rescue efforts. It is feared that the eventual death toll will exceed 20 000.
Around 380 000 people in Turkey have been rehomed in temporary shelters following the event, with reports of over 11 000 collapsed buildings, of which 5775 have been confirmed. Around 8000 people have been pulled alive from beneath collapsed buildings in Turkey, where about 23 million people across ten provinces are thought to have been affected by the event.
Southeastern Turkey lies at the boundary between the Eurasian Plate to the north and east, the Anatolian Plate to the west and the Arabian Plate to the south. The Arabian Plate is being pushed north and west by the movement of the African Plate, further to the south. This leads to a zone of tectonic activity within the province, as the Arabian and Anatolian plates are pushed together, along the East Anatolian Fault, and past one-another, along the Dead Sea Transform.
This movement also leads to a zone of faulting along the northern part of Turkey, the North Anatolian Fault Zone, as the Anatolian Plate is pushed past the Eurasian Plate, which underlies the Black Sea and Crimean Peninsula (transform faulting). This is not a simple process, as the two plates constantly stick together, then break apart as the pressure builds up, leading to Earthquakes, which can be some distance from the actual fault zone.
The northward movement of the African and Arabian Plates also causes folding and uplift in the Caucasus Mountains, which separate Georgia from Russia. Again this is not a smooth process, with the rocks sticking together, then moving sharply as the pressure builds up enough to break them apart, which can also lead to Earthquakes in the region.
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