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Türkiye, situated on the highly active MediterraneanAlpine-Himalayan seismic belt (Box 1), is susceptible to frequent powerful earthquakes. This newsletter presents an overview of earthquake data and their impact on the country over the last century.
Earthquakes can have devastating consequences worldwide, as reported by EM-DAT.1,2 Since 1900, the five most destructive earthquakes have resulted in the loss of approx. one million lives (see Table 1).
Certain countries are particularly susceptible to earthquakes, especially if they are located on active fault lines. From 1900 to 2020, Türkiye experienced 1,796 potentially damaging earthquakes, i.e., quakes of a magnitude five or higher, indicating the region's active seismicity. In Türkiye, earthquakes are among the most devastating disasters, accounting for over 60% of all disaster-related fatalities.
A recent tragedy that began on February 6, 2023 with two powerful earthquakes measuring 7.8 and 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale (Mw, Box 1), resulted in the loss of 50,783 lives (Box 2, Fig. 1, Table 2).
These quakes affected 11 provinces and impacted approximately 14 million people, which represents 16.4% of the total population.3,4,5 Aftershocks are ongoing and will likely continue to occur for months if not years.