The 2020 Elazığ earthquake occurred at 20:55 local time (17:55

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

) on 24 January in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The magnitude of the earthquake was determined to be 6.7 . The earthquake's epicentre was close to the town of

Sivrice Sivrice (), is a town of Elazığ Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Sivrice District.İlç ...

Elazığ Province Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia Region, Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euph ...

and felt in the neighbouring provinces of

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

Malatya Malatya (; ; Syriac language, Syriac ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city has been a human settlement for thousands of y ...

and

Adıyaman Adıyaman () is a city in southeastern Turkey. It is the administrative centre of Adıyaman Province and Adıyaman District. Its population is 267,131 (2021). The inhabitants of the city are mostly Turkish and Kurdish. The city was one of the ...

, and the neighbouring countries of

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Kandilli Observatory Kandilli Observatory, or more formally Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI; ) is a Turkish observatory, which is also specialized on earthquake research. It is situated in Kandilli neighborhood of Üsküdar district on t ...

reported the magnitude of the earthquake as 6.5 . A total of 41 people were killed and more than 1,600 were injured.

Tectonic setting

Most of Turkey lies on the

Anatolian Plate The Anatolian plate is a continental tectonic plate lying under Asiatic part of Turkey, known as Anatolia. Most of the country of Turkey is located on the Anatolian plate. The plate is separated from the Eurasian plate and the Arabian plate ...

, which is being forced westwards by the collision between the Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate. This westward movement is accommodated by two large

strike-slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

zones, the west–east trending right lateral

North Anatolian Fault The North Anatolian Fault (NAF; ) is an active right-lateral strike-slip fault in northern Anatolia, and is the transform boundary between the Eurasian plate and the Anatolian sub-plate. The fault extends westward from a junction with the Ea ...

in the north of the country and the SW-NE trending left lateral

East Anatolian Fault The East Anatolian Fault (EAF; ) is a ~700 km long major strike-slip fault zone running from eastern to south-central Turkey. It forms the transform type tectonic boundary between the Anatolian sub-plate and the northward-moving Arabian ...

towards the south-east. Movement on these two faults has been responsible for many large and damaging earthquakes historically. The most recent major earthquakes on the East Anatolian Fault were the 2003 Bingöl earthquake and the

2010 Elazığ earthquake 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to ...

. 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 ...

also occurred on this fault.

Earthquake

The earthquake had a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 6.7 and a depth of according to ANSS and 6.5 and a depth of according to the

. The duration of the earthquake was reported as 40 seconds. The observed

focal mechanism The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the Fault (geology)#Slip.2C heave.2C throw, deformation in the Hypocenter, source region that generates the seismic waves. In the case of a Fault (geology), fault-related event, it refers to the ori ...

and the epicentral location are consistent with the earthquake being caused by movement on the East Anatolian Fault. Many

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...

s were detected following the earthquake, among which 17 were reported to be of magnitude 4.0 or greater with the largest being a 5.1 event at 16:30 UTC on 25 January. The earthquake's epicentre was close to the town of

Sivrice Sivrice (), is a town of Elazığ Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Sivrice District.İlç ...

, east of the Turkish capital

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. The town has 4,000 inhabitants, lying within an overall thinly populated region, and is adjacent to

Lake Hazar Lake Hazar (; ; ) is a rift lake in the Taurus Mountains, 22 km southeast of Elazığ, notable as the source of the Tigris. Formerly known as Lake Geoljuk, the lake was used as an execution site during the Armenian genocide. Sunken city ...

Damage

There was serious damage within 40 km of the epicentre, including the cities of

Elazığ Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plai ...

and

. 19 towns and over 200 villages were also seriously impacted. Just in the two cities, 87 multistory buildings collapsed with another 1,287 being so damaged that they will have to be demolished. Thousands of other buildings outside the cities were seriously affected. All buildings in 25 of the villages are reported to be destroyed. A total of 41 people were confirmed dead, the majority of whom were in Elazığ and the rest in Malatya. In addition, three people died due to heart attacks during the earthquake; one in each of

, and

Kahramanmaraş Kahramanmaraş (), historically Marash (; ) and Germanicea (), is a city in the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean region of Turkey and the administrative centre of Kahramanmaraş Province, Kahramanmaraş province. After 1973, Maraş was ...

provinces. At least 1,607 people were reported to be injured, mostly within Elazığ province. 39 people were rescued from collapsed buildings. The earthquake interrupted a live broadcast of the local

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

television channel. Dozens of wounded casualties were reported in the adjacent provinces of

Şanlıurfa Urfa, officially called Şanlıurfa (), is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. The city was known as Edessa from Hellenistic times and into Christian times. Urfa is situated on a plain about east of the Eup ...

and

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

. A prison in Adıyaman was damaged during the earthquake and subsequently evacuated. On 25 January, officials stated that more than 20 people are still trapped, with the number of people rescued reaching 42 so far, according to the BBC. An elderly woman was rescued after being trapped for 19 hours under the rubble. Thousands were temporarily housed in schools and sport centres across the region. Turkey's Interior Minister added that at least 15,000 people are sleeping in gymnasiums and schools, and more than 5,000 tents have been installed for the victims displaced by the earthquake. According to ''The Guardian'', hundreds of people waited greatly concerned behind police barriers, with the hope of finding their missing relatives. The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority deployed 400 search and rescue teams to the affected regions alongside relief supplies, totalling 3,699 personnel. The

Turkish Red Crescent The Turkish Red Crescent () is the Turkish affiliate of the International Red Crescent and the first worldwide adopter of the crescent symbol for humanitarian aid. Being the largest humanitarian foundation in Turkey, its roots goes back to the ...

also mobilized hundreds of its personnel with emergency supplies to the region.

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

announced additional flights to Elazığ from

and

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

to assist in transporting aid workers. Turkey's military are also at the ready to assist, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu stated. Telecom companies in the affected regions announced free access to internet and telephone services for residents. Rescue workers and survivors had to cope with night time temperatures dropping to . Turkish president

Recep Erdoğan Recep is a Turkish name deriving from the Arabic name Rajab. It may refer to: People Surname * Aziz Recep (born 1992), German-Greek footballer * Sibel Recep (born 1987), Swedish pop singer Given name * Recep Adanır (1929–2017), Turkish fo ...

cancelled a scheduled attendance at the Foreign Economic Relations Board and visited the region on 25 January 2020 where he attended the funerals of a mother and son who died in the earthquake. After the funeral, Erdoğan was said to have visited hospitals where the victims of the quake were admitted, as well as locations of collapsed buildings. President Erdoğan stated earlier on Saturday, that the ministers of Interior, Health and Environment have been sent to areas affected by the quake, according to CNN. Furthermore, the Turkish president has assured that steel-framed houses will be built for the victims who lost their homes in the quake. On Sunday, as the rescue teams began winding down their rescue operation, a mother and her young child were said to have been removed from beneath a collapsed building, according to ''The Guardian''. They were believed to have been trapped under the building for 28 hours. During a news conference on Sunday, President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

stated that so far at least 45 people have been rescued from the rubble. The local football team

Elazığspor Elazığspor is a Turkish professional football club located in Elazığ and currently competes in the TFF Second League. They play their home games at Elazığ Atatürk Stadium in Elazığ, which has a maximum capacity of 18,423. The club was ...

, withdrew from the 2019-20 2. Lig after the earthquake.

International response

While Turkey primarily managed the disaster response domestically, several international entities offered support: *

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO) dispatched two experts to assist in coordinating health services and praised Turkey's swift and effective response. *

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

extended an offer of assistance through its Foreign Minister, reflecting regional solidarity.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elazığ earthquake, 2020 2020 disasters in Turkey 2020 earthquakes

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2020 Elazığ January 2020 in Turkey Strike-slip earthquakes