Waves of disaster: the disastrous origins and impacts of the earthquakes bordering Turkey and Syria

At 4:17 am on February 6, an earthquake with a 7.8 magnitude struck the Gaziantep province in southeast Turkey (also known as the Republic of Türkiye), abruptly shattering peoples’ ways of life in an instant—displacing, injuring, and killing thousands. The force of its destruction was felt by the Syrians—bordering to the south of Turkey—in its full capacity, and its intensity carried all the way to Egypt. The effects of the earthquake were exacerbated by vulnerable building structures, long periods of political turmoil, and numerous aftershocks dotting the region—concocting a lethal catastrophe which has led to the death of 47,000 as of February 21.

To find the root cause of the devastation, we have to dig deeper… into the Earth.

Turkey sits on an interlock between three tectonic plates: Eurasia plate from the north, pushing southward on the Anatolian plate and the Arabian plate—where Syria is located—from the southeast, pushing northwest, forcing the Anatolian plate to move westward. The collective movements of these three plates is what caused the initial 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which released energy equivalent to igniting eight million tons of TNT simultaneously.

To understand the origins of the earthquakes, we first have to understand the anatomy of the Earth. Tectonic plates make up the thinnest, and outermost layer of the Earth, called the crust. These plates are constantly in motion and in contact with each other. Depending on how these plates interact with each other, new land masses can form, old ones can be recycled, or earthly wonders like mountain ranges can form. Symptoms of these movements can be tracked by epicentres (the origins of earthquakes), tremors, or simply by constant surveillance and measurements.

The Turkish-Syrian earthquakes, in particular, are caused by a phenomenon called a ‘strike-slip’ movement. This is when two or more tectonic plates slide past each other in a horizontal shearing motion. While the plates slide past each other, the uneven edges of the plates along the fault line inevitably get caught with one another. Because of this, strike-slip movements are extremely earthquake prone. In the case of the Turkish-Syrian earthquakes, the Anatolian plate is under immense stress while it is being pushed westward by the Eurasian and Arabian plates. So, when the Anatolian plate gets caught with the Arabian plate, energy gets built up as the Eurasian plate urges the Anatolian plate to move. Energy pents up to a certain point until the plates can no longer withstand the pressure, and energy is released all at once in the form of earthquakes.

The initial earthquake led to devastating aftermaths with aftershocks and tremors along the fault line, which are succeeding energy releases that follow the initial earthquake to ‘milder’ degrees. Within 36 hours of the initial earthquake, more than 100 aftershocks hit the region, with some magnitudes as high as 7.5 happening almost 100 km from the original quake. Aftershocks happen when energy is released from an earthquake, and the energy gets fractionated and transferred to its surroundings. Some of the energy is released to the rocks and earth nearby, and these energy build ups will have smaller frequencies and magnitudes. Aftershocks can happen within days to years of the initial quake, and their magnitude and location depends on thousands of factors, which is why it is almost impossible to predict where and how many aftershocks there will be after an earthquake.

Due to many factors, whether it be natural or otherwise, the Turkish-Syrian crisis prevails, with symptoms from the February 6 earthquake still haunting the region to this day. The death toll continues to increase as the months go by, with colder nights, displaced citizens—including some who are still trapped under rubble—and many injured. Fortunately, many organisations such as the International Federation of Red Cross, Syrian Civil Defense (known as the White Helmets), and the Syrian American Medical Society have stepped up to the plate, rescuing and comforting the trapped, homeless, and the injured.