An earthquake struck Turkey's eastern
Erzincan Province
Erzincan Province (; ; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. In Turkey, its capital is also called Erzincan. Its area is 11,815 km2, and its population is 239,223 (2022).
Geography
Erzincan is trav ...
at with a
moment magnitude () of 7.8 and maximum
Mercalli intensity of XII (''Extreme''). It is tied with the
2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes
On 6 February 2023, at 04:17 Time in Turkey, TRT (01:17 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC), a 7.8 earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and northern and western Ba'athist Syria, Syria. The epicenter was west–northwest ...
as the most powerful earthquake in Turkey to be recorded by instruments. However, it was less powerful than estimates of the
1668 North Anatolia earthquake. This was one of the largest in a sequence of violent shocks to affect Turkey along the
North Anatolian Fault between 1939 and
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
.
Surface rupturing, with a horizontal displacement of up to 3.7 meters, occurred in a 360 km long segment of the North Anatolian Fault Zone.
The earthquake was the most severe natural loss of life in Turkey in the 20th century, with 32,968 dead,
and some 100,000 injured.
Preface
The North Anatolian Fault in Asia Minor is a major
transform fault boundary where the Eurasian plate slides past the smaller
Anatolian Microplate. Running for over 1,600 km, the fault stretches from Eastern Turkey to the
Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...
.
The North Anatolian fault has been, and remains very active.
Erzincan has been destroyed by earthquakes at least 11 times since 1,000 AD. Between 1942 and 1967, there were six major earthquakes along the same fault, with three above 7 .
Earthquake
With an epicenter near the city of Erzincan, the
earthquake rupture propagated westwards for a length of 400 km. Surface ruptures are still visible to this day. Up to 360 km of surface rupture was formed. An average surface displacement of between 2.3 meters and 8.8 meters was calculated.
Vertical displacements measured 0.5–2.0 meters.
The maximum horizontal slip was 10.5 meters.
The shaking lasted for 52 seconds. It resulted in a
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...
with heights of that hit the Black sea coast.
Coulomb stress transfer Coulomb stress transfer is a Seismology, seismic-related geology, geological process of Stress (mechanics), stress changes to surrounding material caused by local discrete deformation events. Using mapped displacements of the Earth's surface during ...
from the 1939 earthquake promoted westward-progressing ruptures along the North Anatolian Fault. Ten earthquakes greater than magnitude 6.7 have ruptured a 1,000 km portion of the fault since 1939.
Damage
The earthquake seriously damaged some 116,720 buildings. Occurring in winter, it was difficult for aid to reach the affected areas.
Initially, the death toll was about 8,000 people. The next day on 28 December, it was reported that it had risen to 20,000. During the same day, the temperature fell to . An emergency rescue operation began. By January 5, almost 33,000 had died from the earthquake and low temperatures, blizzard conditions and floods.
Aftermath
The total destruction of the earthquake prompted Turkey to adopt seismic building regulations.
So extensive was the damage to the city of
Erzincan that its old site was entirely abandoned and a new settlement was founded a little further to the north.
See also
*
List of earthquakes in 1939
*
List of earthquakes in Turkey
*
Osman Nuri Tekeli
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
33 bin kişinin can verdiği Erzincan Depremi'nin acısı 82 yıldır dinmiyor–
Anadolu Agency
Anadolu Agency (, ; abbreviated AA) is a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey.
History
The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by the order of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. As the Empire's capital � ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erzincan 1939
1939 Erzincan
1930s tsunamis
1939 in Turkey
1939 earthquakes
History of Erzincan Province
Tsunamis in Turkey
December 1939 in Europe
Strike-slip earthquakes