Turkey earthquake

The quake knocked down multiple buildings in south-east Turkey and Syria with at least 100 people reportedly killed.

In Malatya, 140 buildings have collapsed, according to the Anadolu Agency and Reuters. At least 11 were killed in one town, Atmeh, and many more were buried in the rubble, a doctor in the town, Muheeb Qaddour, said via telephone. The quake jolted residents in Lebanon from beds, shaking buildings for about 40 seconds. Earlier 20 people were reported dead in rebel-held areas of the country. It was centred 18 kilometres deep, and a strong 6.7 aftershock rumbled about 10 minutes later. On the Syrian side of the border, the quake smashed opposition-held regions that are packed with some 4 million Syrians displaced from other parts of the country by the long civil war.

More than 100 buildings across the city of Kahramanmaras have collapsed. A major earthquake of magnitude 7.9 killed more than 50 people in southern Turkey on ...

"The earthquake struck in a region that we feared. There was a quake measuring 6.7 in Gaziantep and another of 5.6 in the city's Nurdag area. "Paintings fell off the walls in the house," said Samer, a resident of the capital, Damascus. "I woke up terrified. South across the border in Syria, state media said 42 had been killed. "Everybody is sitting in their cars, or trying to drive to open spaces away from buildings," he said, speaking by telephone.

Many people are feared dead after a magnitude-7.8 quake strikes south-east Türkiye and Syria, causing a number of buildings to collapse in both countries.

In the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, at least 15 buildings collapsed. In Damascus, buildings shook and many people went down to the streets in fear. Syria's state media reported that some buildings collapsed in the northern city of Aleppo and the central city of Hama. The civil defence urged people to evacuate buildings and to gather in open areas. Some 18,000 people were killed in powerful earthquakes that hit the north-west of the country in 1999. Several buildings fell in the Turkish provinces of Malatya, Diyarbakir and Malatya, HaberTurk television reported.

A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit south-east Turkey and Syria early on Monday, toppling buildings and sending panicked residents pouring outside on a ...

In Damascus, buildings shook and many people went down to the streets in fear. Syria's state media reported that some buildings collapsed in the northern city of Aleppo and the central city of Hama. The civil defence urged people to evacuate buildings to gather in open areas. In north-west Syria, the opposition's Syrian Civil Defence described the situation in the rebel-held region as "disastrous" adding that entire buildings have collapsed and people are trapped under the rubble. At least 195 people were killed in both countries, hundreds were injured and the toll was expected to rise. In the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, at least 15 buildings collapsed.

At least 59 people were killed in two countries after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit Turkey in more than 100 years sent tremors across the region, ...

The ramifications of this are broad and will impact this region for weeks, and months.” All our relevant units are on alert under the coordination of AFAD,” Erdogan wrote on Twitter. Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to the south of the country, Turkey’s interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, said. About 11 minutes after the main quake hit, the strongest aftershock of 6.7 magnitude hit about 32 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the main quake’s epicenter. Let’s not keep the phones busy,” he said. Many of his neighbors had left their homes following the quake, he said. Karl Lang, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech University’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, told CNN the area hit by the quake Monday is prone to seismic activity. Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, with fewer than five occurring each year on average, anywhere in the world. Nurdagi is located along the Turkey-Syria border, and the quake was felt in several countries across the region, including Syria and Lebanon. Monday’s quake is believed to be the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939, when an earthquake of the same magnitude killed 30,000 people, according to the USGS. The quake struck before daybreak on Monday, when residents were likely asleep and unprepared for the impact. Video from Turkey shared on social media showed dozens of collapsed buildings, while frightened residents huddled on the darkened streets amid the chaos.

The quake knocked down multiple buildings in south-east Turkey and Syria with at least 195 people reportedly killed.

In Malatya, 140 buildings have collapsed, according to the Anadolu Agency and Reuters. The quake jolted residents in Lebanon from beds, shaking buildings for about 40 seconds. On the Syrian side of the border, the quake smashed opposition-held regions that are packed with some 4 million Syrians displaced from the long civil war. It was centred 18 kilometres deep, and a strong 6.7 aftershock rumbled about 10 minutes later. “We are under extreme pressure.” “We were shaken like a cradle.

The quake, which hit early on Monday morning, was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Building collapses after massive 7.8-magnitude ...

There was a quake measuring 6.7 in Gaziantep and another of 5.6 in the city’s Nurdag area. In 2011, a quake in the eastern city of Van killed more than 500. “The earthquake struck in a region that we feared. More than 17,000 people were killed in 1999 when a 7.6-magnitude quake struck Izmit, a city southeast of Istanbul. Tremors were also felt in the Turkish capital of Ankara, 460km northwest of the epicentre, and in Cyprus, where police reported no damage. The tremor lasted about a minute and shattered windows, according to a Reuters witness in Diyarbakir, 350km to the east, where a security official said at least 17 buildings collapsed. The German Research Centre for Geosciences said the quake struck at a depth of 10km, while the EMSC monitoring service said it was assessing the risk of a tsunami. “The situation is very tragic, tens of buildings have collapsed in the city of Salqin,” a member of the White Helmets rescue organisation said in a video clip on Twitter, referring to a town about five kilometres from the Turkish border. The United States was “profoundly concerned” about the quake in Turkey and Syria and was monitoring events closely, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter. People in Damascus, and in the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli, ran into the street and took to their cars to get away from their buildings in case they collapsed, witnesses said. Syrian state media said more than 100 people were killed and dozens more injured, most in the provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia, where numerous buildings had been brought down. President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone with the governors of eight affected provinces to gather information on the situation and rescue efforts, his office said in a statement.

A powerful earthquake has struck in south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, killing more than 500 people as they slept and trapping many others.

You can also get in touch in the following ways: France, Germany, Israel, and the US have also pledged to help. We need the international community to do something, to help us, to support us. The UK has said it will send 76 specialists, equipment and rescue dogs. The country's worst earthquake disaster was in 1939 when 33,000 people died in Turkey's eastern Erzincan province. Thousands of buildings across both the countries have collapsed, and several videos show the moment they fell, as onlookers ran for cover. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. Survivors said it took two minutes for the shaking to stop. There have been dozens of fatalities reported in rebel-held areas. If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the "We're still feeling regular after-shocks... The second quake - triggered by the first - had a magnitude of 7.5, and its epicentre was in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province.

A second earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday, after the death toll from a first quake rose near 1300.

The EU Council in May 2022 [reported 371 deaths and 1,089 injured](https://www.sana.sy/?p=1832075) in the Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartous regions, as a result of the first earthquake. The humanitarian White Helmets rescue service, which operates in Turkey and the opposition-controlled parts of Syria, had earlier estimated Syrian life losses near 221, with 419 injured. "Italy and Hungary have offered their rescue teams to Türkiye as well. AFAD said the second quake took place at 1:32 p.m. - AFAD said the second quake took place at 1:32 p.m.

It was 04:17 local time when Erdem, asleep at his home in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, was shaken from his sleep by one of Turkey's biggest-ever earthquakes.

"My sister and her three children are there," he told AFP. "I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I've lived," he said. "I started pulling rocks away with my hands. "There was screaming everywhere," one 30-year-old man told Reuters. People went to their cars to escape the damaged buildings. We pulled out the injured with friends, but the screaming didn't stop.

Powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Turkey's border with Syria early Monday, killing more than 600 people.

At least 147 people were killed in rebel-held areas, according to the White Helmets. Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency said at least 284 people were killed in seven Turkish provinces. The agency said 440 people were injured.

Scores confirmed dead after 7.8 magnitude tremor hit early on Monday, causing widespread destruction and trapping people under rubble.

Our teams are on the highest levels of alert to respond and rescue those trapped,” A magnitude-6.8 quake hit Elazığ in January 2020, killing more than 40 people. “We hope to get through this together as soon as possible and with the least damage, and we continue our work,” he tweeted. Now we’re all dressed and standing at the door.” “There may be 200 people under the rubble.” That quake killed more than 17,000 people, including about 1,000 in Istanbul. A second tremor was felt at 04:26am local time (0126GMT), with the epicentre in the town of Nurdağı, some 80km (50 miles) south-west. Residents in the town of Pazarcık said they feared for those trapped under fallen buildings. People are all outside, all in fear.” There are buildings that are cracking. There are destroyed buildings around me, there are houses on fire. Thank God, our friends are safe, but we heard there are people who can’t get out of their homes and there are people we can’t reach,” he said.

It was a big earthquake - registered as 7.8, classified as "major" on the official magnitude scale. It broke along about 100km (62 miles) of fault line, causing ...

This has replaced the better known Richter scale, now considered outdated and less accurate. A tremor of 2.5 or less usually cannot be felt, but can be detected by instruments. These plates often try to move but are prevented by the friction of rubbing up against an adjoining one. The Turkish earthquake at 7.8 is classified as major and usually causes serious damage, as it has in this instance. It broke along about 100km (62 miles) of fault line, causing serious damage to buildings near the fault. The next 24 hours are crucial to find survivors.

When a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria early Monday morning local time, its tremor could be felt as far afield as ...

The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations, which provides healthcare in opposition-held parts of northwestern Syria, is also soliciting [urgent international aid](https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/catastrophic-earthquake-could-lead-humanitarian-disaster-syria-and-turkey). [immediate cash assistance](https://twitter.com/ifrc/status/1622531086822653953)” from its Disaster Response Emergency Fund to help relief efforts. Geological Survey](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jllz/executive). local time and was six miles deep, according to [USGS](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jlqa/executive). We are determined to do all that we can to help those affected by these earthquakes in the days, weeks, and months ahead.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Our initial assistance response to Türkiye is already underway, and U.S.-supported humanitarian organizations in Syria are responding to the earthquakes’ effects across the country. In each of these three pillars of safe construction, it is known that there are serious problems both legally and in practice.” [7.8 magnitude](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jllz/executive) earthquake struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria early Monday morning local time, its tremor could be felt as far afield as Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. The plan involved designating hundreds of urban spaces as evacuation points in case of emergency. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The former has been the site of several disastrous earthquakes, according to While the full scale of the infrastructure damage is yet to be fully known, AFAD official Orhan Tatar said late Monday that more than 5,500 buildings collapsed.

Former Premier League and World Cup star Christian Atsu is trapped under rubble after a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, ...

“There are many damaged buildings,” AFAD chief Orhan Tatar said in nationally televised remarks. “We pray for Ghana International Christian Atsu and victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria,” the Ghana Football Association said on Twitter. He won the last of his 60 Black Stars caps in September 2019.

The movement of the tectonic plates builds up pressure on fault zones at their boundaries. It is the sudden release of this pressure that causes earthquakes and ...

Light shaking was felt as far away as the Turkish capital of Istanbul (around 815km away), as well as Baghdad in Iraq (800km) and Cairo in Egypt (950km). The first was a 6.7 which happened only 11 minutes after the first shock, and there have been hundreds of smaller magnitude aftershocks. [7.8 out of 10](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jllz/executive) on the moment magnitude scale. Later in the morning another very large magnitude 7.5 occurred further to the north on a different but adjacent fault system: the Sürgü Fault. That means a magnitude 7.8 actually releases around [6,000 times more energy](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/education/calculator.php) than the more moderate magnitude 5 earthquakes that might usually happen in the region. While this area has many earthquakes every year caused by the ongoing motion of the tectonic plates, today’s earthquake is particularly large and devastating as so much energy was released. It is the sudden release of this pressure that causes earthquakes and ground shaking. These can continue for days to years after the initial event. We tend to think of earthquake energy as coming from a single location, or epicentre, but they are actually caused by movement along an area of a fault. This means the shaking will be felt over a very large area. Data from seismometers which measure shaking of the ground caused by earthquake waves suggest this this event was a magnitude Arabia is moving northwards into Europe, causing the Anatolian plate (which Turkey sits on) to be pushed out westwards.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the death toll from twin earthquakes, which also hit Syria, could rise dramatically.

Among those affected were many of Turkey’s 3.7 million registered Syrian refugees, the biggest such population in the world. The UK stands ready to help in whatever way we can.” Rescue workers and residents in several cities were conducting increasingly desperate searches for survivors, working through tangled metal and concrete. [earthquake zone](/link/follow-20170101-p5cieu), we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise [to],” the Turkish president said. Millions were facing a night without heating gas, electricity, or fuel for their cars. More than 45 countries pledged to send experts and aid to help rescue efforts.

Dozens of countries offer help as rescue workers and residents frantically search for survivors after devastating 7.8-magnitude tremor.

“Millions have already been forced to flee by war in the wider region and now many more will be displaced by disaster,” said Carsten Hansen, of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Pledges of assistance came in on Monday from countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as North America. Images on Turkish television showed rescuers digging through the rubble of levelled buildings in the city of Kahramanmaraş and neighbouring Gaziantep, where entire high-rise blocks were destroyed. Now we’re all dressed and standing at the door.” “We used our phone’s flashlight so we could get dressed, and hurried out of the house. Television images from Turkey showed shocked people standing in the snow in their pyjamas, watching rescuers dig through the debris of damaged homes. Separately, Moscow said rescuers were departing by plane to Syria. We laid still and waited for the shaking to finish. “We woke up with a jolt, as the electricity was off. Yunus Sezer, who heads Turkey’s disaster relief agency AFAD, said nearly 15,000 search and rescue personnel had been deployed to the region. In some places around southeast Turkey, survivors could be heard screaming from beneath collapsed buildings, the Associated Press reported. That quake killed more than 17,000 people, including at least 1,000 in Istanbul, amid widespread destruction.

A powerful earthquake rocked southeastern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, killing more than 3400 people and injuring thousands more.

President Biden issued a message saying he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation" in Turkey and Syria. Monday's earthquake was one of the country's worst disasters in decades. "Full solidarity with our Ally Türkiye in the aftermath of this terrible earthquake," Stoltenberg posted on his Twitter account. The U.S. Since then, at least 15 of the quakes have been magnitude 5.0 or greater, and two have been at 6.0 or more, the USGS says. are also responding to the earthquake emergency there. [more than 200 flights](https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/istanbul/over-200-flights-cancelled-in-istanbul-due-to-expected-snowstorm) for Sunday and Monday because of expected conditions. The tweet also offered emergency response support. More than 3 million residents of the area are food insecure. Groups in the rebel-held northwest say the death toll is at least 450. The first quake was the largest: a 7.8 magnitude temblor that hit at 4:17 a.m. Hundreds of families are still trapped, according to rescue workers.

In the early hours of Monday 6 February 2023, a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Turkey's border with northern Syria.

Even before the earthquake, the situation in the region was already bad with 80% of people living in poverty. CAFOD's local experts are already on the ground and assessing the needs of those affected by the earthquake. Millions of people across Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel felt the earthquake.

More than 1,000 people have been reported dead so far in northern Syria following the quake. Emergency rescue teams said many buildings are damaged or destroyed ...

Dozens of other nations have promised help, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. However, BBC Monitoring's Hesham Shawish, a Middle East specialist, says this is not enough to deal with the scale of the destruction. Another said some of his relatives were trapped under the rubble. It may also take some time for international aid to arrive. Twelve hours later, a second quake, which was nearly as large, struck 130km (80 miles) to the north. " There's no one to rescue them.

Two strong quakes have devastated wide swaths of Turkey and Syria, killing thousands of people. Here's the science behind the catastrophe.

Officials reported thousands of buildings collapsed after the earthquake. While new buildings in cities like Istanbul were designed with modern earthquake standards in mind, this area of southern Turkey has many older high-rise buildings, Jaiswal said. “We expect aftershocks to continue in the coming days, weeks and months.” In 1999, a magnitude 7.4 quake struck near Istanbul and killed an estimated 18,000 people. Another strong quake – magnitude 7.5 – hit Turkey nine hours after the main jolt. In the first 11 hours, the region had felt 13 significant aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5, said Alex Hatem, a US Geological Survey research geologist.

Video and maps of the impact of the huge earthquake and aftershocks that have killed thousands.

In 1999, a tremor of a similar magnitude to Monday’s quakes devastated İzmit, killing more than 17,000 people. Other historical sites across the region may have been damaged. Its epicentre was close to the southern city of Gaziantep, and tremors were felt as far away as Cyprus, Cairo and Mosul. It was the worst to strike Turkey this century. [damaged the historic Gaziantep Castle](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/06/fears-for-ancient-sites-after-earthquake-destroys-parts-of-gaziantep-castle-turkey), which has been in use since Roman times. [Syria](https://www.theguardian.com/world/syria), according to figures from the Damascus government and rescue workers.

At least 2921 have died in Turkey, while Syria toll stands at 1444; WHO says deaths could pass 20000.

More than 10 search and rescue teams from the European Union have been mobilised to help with the recovery, a spokesperson for the European Commission said. The IPCR arrangements strengthen the EU’s ability to take rapid decisions when facing major cross-sectoral crises requiring a response at the EU level. US President Joe Biden spoke with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to offer condolences and reaffirm Washington’s readiness to assist in rescue efforts, the White House said. Syria’s envoy to the UN said Monday that aid sent after the earthquake will reach all its population, even though Damascus does not control all of its territory. “We always see the same thing with earthquakes, unfortunately, which is that the initial reports of the numbers of people who have died or who have been injured will increase quite significantly in the week that follows,” Smallwood added. The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said preliminary data showed the second large quake measured 7.7 magnitude, and was 67km (42 miles) north-east of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, at a depth of 2km. Asked if aid donated to Syria – some areas are held by rebels – would reach all of the population, Syria’s UN envoy Bassam Sabbagh said it would. In 1999, when a tremor of similar magnitude hit the heavily populated eastern Marmara Sea region near Istanbul, it killed more than 17,000. Thousands more are injured, and the death toll is expected to rise. The first quake struck as people slept, and measured magnitude 7.8, one of the most powerful quakes in the region in at least a century. You can get in touch with me directly on Twitter Survivors are being evacuated by military plane to areas where hospitals have greater capacity.

When Monday's earthquake struck, many poorly constructed buildings suffered a 'pancake mode' collapse.

[well-known problems in Turkey](https://revkin.substack.com/p/gauging-losses-and-lessons-in-turkeys) and elsewhere with ensuring safe building construction and adherence to seismic building codes. Many of the modern buildings have failed in a “ [pancake mode](https://www.newcivilengineer.com/archive/pancake-collapses-tell-story-of-poor-construction-15-02-2001/)” of structural collapse. For now, aftershocks continue to shake the region, and search and rescue efforts continue. The second occurred nine hours later, on what appears to be an intersecting fault, registering [a magnitude of 7.5](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jlqa/executive). A proportion of these buildings thus failed at shaking intensities lower than the “design code”. These effects may render many areas unsafe to rebuild on – so reconstruction efforts should also include Historical records of earthquakes in the region go back at least 2,000 years, to However, in reality, there are many factors that influence building construction practices in this region and others worldwide. The elastic strain that accumulates in this plate boundary zone is released by intermittent earthquakes, which have occurred for millions of years. The East Anatolian Fault zone that hosted these earthquakes is at the boundary between the Arabian and Anatolian tectonic plates, which move past each other at approximately 6 to 10 mm per year. [some 3,450 buildings have collapsed](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/world/europe/turkey-earthquake-rescue.html), according to the Turkish government. [measured 7.8 in magnitude](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000jllz/executive) and was felt as far away as the UK.

Nihal Iscel received news today that a cousin living in Gaziantep, the centre of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, has died, while rescue crews are desperately ...

“People are sending trucks of relief. Lots of people are coming to help. “Most of our family are safe and well in their cars. There are tons and tons of apartment buildings there, and now none of them are safe. The shops are closed or collapsed.” They are collecting donations to help people.

More than 4000 people have died after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria. Why was it so deadly?

"Basically, the floors of the building have not been able to withstand what we call the 'shear loading' - the shaking of the ground back and forth, and they've basically pancaked and killed lots of people that were in those buildings at the time," he said. "We're in a place where you have millions of displaced refugees, we have big challenges in this region already, so prioritising strong buildings may or may not be the biggest priority at all times." "We typically think a lot of these types of buildings in this area start to be damaged and fail at about half that, so 10 per cent of the ground acceleration of gravity," he said. Associate Professor Quigley said the initial quake had over 20 per cent of the ground acceleration of gravity, exposing hundreds of thousands of people to "very strong shaking". At 7.8 magnitude, the initial quake was very strong and caused a lot of damage, but it was also followed by a series of aftershocks, including one that registered at 7.5 magnitude. The impact of the earthquake

From local groups in Australia to international relief efforts, here are some ways to lend a helping hand to those affected by the earthquake that ...

Now, aid organisations such as Islamic Relief are calling on people to help in the name of their faith. People who lost their homes and loved ones need our support," the IFRC's Xavier Castellanos said. In this response, every minute counts." “This earthquake caused unfathomable damage. More and more people are being desperately pulled out of the rubble in Syria and Turkey. - More than 4,000 people are dead and thousands more are injured in the earthquakes that devastated Syria and Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was the worst earthquake experienced in nearly a century. Australia will commit an initial $10 million in ...

"It was like the apocalypse," said Abdul Salam al-Mahmoud, a Syrian in the northern town of Atareb. Occasionally they raised their hands and called for quiet, listening for sounds of life. Two sons of mine are still in the rubble, I'm waiting for them." Health workers did what they could to tend to the new rush of injured patients. Not a single one came out. The quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon. In Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey, a woman speaking next to the wreckage of the seven-storey block where she lived said: "We were shaken like a cradle. Raed al-Saleh of the Syrian White Helmets, a rescue service in rebel-held territory known for pulling people from the ruins of buildings destroyed by air strikes, said they were in "a race against time to save the lives of those under the rubble". A White Helmets member carries a child rescued from the rubble following an earthquake in the town of Zardana in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province. In the rebel-held town of Jandaris in Aleppo province, a mound of concrete, steel rods and bundles of clothes lay where a multi-storey building once stood. Two residents of the city, which has been heavily damaged in the war, said the buildings had fallen in the hours after the quake, which was felt as far away as Cyprus and Lebanon. In the Syrian government-held city of Hama, a Reuters journalist saw an apparently lifeless child carried from the ruins of a building.

Turkey and Syria's buildings have always been vulnerable to earthquakes – war has made things worse.

That means that people who are trapped in the rubble, who might be rescued, could well freeze to death. A Magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit south-eastern Turkey and parts of Syria in the early hours of the morning of 6 February. Today’s earthquake penetrated into Syria’s north-western regions with reports of buildings collapsing in Aleppo and Idlib. This is because the majority of existing buildings are low-rise brick masonry structures, constructed very close to each other. “This wasn’t a surprise,” says Puskulcu who was touring the cities of Adana, Tarsus, Mersin and west Turkey last week, delivering workshops on public earthquake awareness. The later Magnitude-7.5 event was around 4km south-east of Ekinözü in the Kahramanmaraş province.