Powerful earthquakes in turkey and syria leave over 3,800 dead.

February 8, 2023

Hit initially by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, dozens of aftershocks followed the initial quake.
The earthquake events are scaled either according to the magnitude or intensity of the shock.
- The magnitude scale is known as the Richter scale. The magnitude indicates energy released during the quake. It is expressed in absolute numbers 0-10.
- The intensity scale is named after Mercalli, an Italian seismologist. The intensity scale indicates the visible damage caused by the event. The range of intensity scale is from 1-12.
Location-Region where earthquake has struck lies along a seismic fault line called Anatolia tectonic block that runs through northern, central, and eastern Turkey.
- Seismicity in this region is a result of interactions between African, Eurasian, and Arabian plates.
- Arabian plate is known to be pushing northward, which results in a slight westward movement for Anatolian plate, where Turkey is located.
One of the largest strike-slip earthquakes to occur in recent times, it struck along East Anatolian Fault Zone.
- Strike-slip faults are vertical (or nearly vertical) fractures where blocks have mostly moved horizontally.
- In these faults, two plates move parallel but in opposite direction from one another.
Turkey bridges continents of Europe (via. Eastern Thrace) and Asia (via. Anatolian Plateau); divided by Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, and Bosporus Strait.