Turkey/Syria Earthquake

• Earthquakes struck Southern Turkey and North-West Syria along the East-Anatolian fault line


  6th February 2023
• Affected areas


  • Aleppo, Northern Syria and Gaziantep, Southern Turkey
• Turkey's fault lines


  • North Anatolian Fault (NAF) and the East Anatolian Fault (EAF)
• Hatay triple junction


  • Where the Africa, Arabian and Eurasian plates converge and has shifted North-East
• East Anatolian Fault (EAF)


  • 700 km long and has slip rates of 10 mm/year decreasing from east to west
• Strain had been continuously building up

  Multiple segments failed at once and tremors could even be felt from Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq
• Initial earthquake


  • Caused a 300 km surface rupture
  • 11.4 m of vertical displacement
• Damage


  • Liquefaction damaged residential areas, airports and canals, resulting in flooding
  • Minor tsunami
• Impact


  • Affected 18 million people in Turkey and Syria, resulting in 55,000 deaths and 130,000 injuries - 5th deadliest in the past century
  • 300,000 buildings, apartments, schools, hospitals and roads were destroyed
  • 3rd costliest this century -> $119 billion
• Disruption in roads in rural areas

  Resulted in food shortages and disruption to farming income
• Water and sewage pipes burst

  Increased the risk of cholera
• Health facilities


  • Only 1/7 were functioning
• Population


  • Suffered from anxiety, depression and PTSD
  • Already vulnerable due to the ongoing civil war
• Corruption and disregard of building standards


  Contributed to the impact
• Weather


  • 5-10° lower temperatures in February which caused flooding and survivors to be stranded outside in the cold
• Timing


  • Struck at 4:17 am when everyone was asleep
• Vulnerable population


  • 2.5 million children in poverty
  • 130,000 pregnant women
  • 47% Syrian refugees
  • ⅓ lack education
  • 15.3% require humanitarian aid
  • 90% live below the poverty line
  • High cost of living (16% increase)
• Humanitarian aid


  • Only 1 functioning route between Turkey and Syria which was damaged and delayed for 3 days
  • Aid was provided by 60 countries
  • The UN donated $50 million for emergency funding
  • $1 billion for Turkey and $400 million for Syria
  • The EU donated $7.5 billion for reconstruction
• Long-term impacts


  • Long term displacement
  • Reconstruction of homes and infrastructure
  • 90% of refugees on humanitarian assistance
  • Economic decline and global inflation, food increase of 800% resulting in 12.1 million people in food poverty
  • Heightened the risk of child labour, violence and child marriage
• COVID-19


  Caused crowded conditions and hard to implement global health measures
• War in Ukraine


  Impacted food supplies
• Turkey's infrastructure


  • 110 dams, with the largest in the world holding cracks from strain
  • Nuclear power plant would put the South-East Mediterranean in danger
• Istanbul


  • Located along the North Anatolian fault - home to 16 million people, and is expected to grow to 18 million
• No level of preparedness can mitigate the impact of a strong earthquake