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Here's what we know about what caused the Turkey earthquake

Joe Hernandez

Geoff Brumfiel

A man searches for people in the rubble of a destroyed building in Gaziantep, Turkey, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. Mustafa Karali/AP hide caption

A man searches for people in the rubble of a destroyed building in Gaziantep, Turkey, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.

The area of Turkey and Syria that has been hardest hit by Monday's 7.8-magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks is known for having big quakes, but it had been decades since one this large last hit.

More than 5,000 people had died across the region.

Here's a look at what happened, geologically-speaking, and why it has caused so much damage.

Earthquakes are common in Turkey and Syria

The Arabian Peninsula is part of a tectonic plate that is making its way north into the Eurasian Plate, and the entire nation of Turkey is getting squeezed aside.

Middle East

Rescuers work for second day to find quake survivors as death toll surpasses 5,000.

"Arabia has slowly been moving north and has been colliding with Turkey, and Turkey is moving out of the way to the west," says Michael Steckler of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory .

That tectonic shift has been behind earthquakes for millennia in the area, including one that flattened the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1138. More recent quakes, such as the 1999 one that struck the city of İzmit, have killed many thousands.

A Turkish castle that withstood centuries of invasions is damaged in the earthquake

Monday's quake is believed to be the most powerful that Turkey has seen in more than 80 years.

This particular region was overdue for a big one

Most of the largest earthquakes in the past hundred years have been along the North Anatolian Fault.

But stress has been building along another major fault: the East Anatolian Fault. That fault has seen some big earthquakes in the past, says Patricia Martínez-Garzón, a seismologist at GFZ Potsdam, a research center in Germany. But more recently, there hasn't been as much activity.

"It was unusually quiet in the last century," she says.

The Picture Show

Photos: a devastating earthquake hits turkey and syria.

Some researchers had begun to suspect the fault was due for a major quake, according to Fatih Bulut, with the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. His research group and others had run computer models showing that this fault could have a magnitude 7.4 or greater earthquake.

"This is not a surprise for us," Bulut tells NPR.

But that doesn't mean that seismologists could say exactly when a big one would hit, according to Ian Main, a seismologist at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. The time between big quakes on a fault can vary quite a bit in unpredictable ways, he says. "They're not like buses, they don't come along on a timetable."

No, you cannot predict earthquakes, the USGS says

And not all the shaking has occurred on this one fault. The initial quake spilled over onto the Dead Sea Transform, another fault region where the Arabian, Anatolian and African plates converge. And a second, magnitude 7.5 quake took place hours later on a nearby fault that had been mapped but isn't part of the East Anatolian Fault.

"It's a pretty busy and complicated area with multiple fault systems," Steckler says.

This was a "strike-slip" earthquake

This earthquake occurred because "two pieces of the Earth are sliding horizontally past each other," Steckler says. It's the same kind of quake that occurs along the San Andreas fault in California.

In this case, the Arabian Plate is sliding past the Anatolian Plate.

That sliding motion also meant the shaking was spread out for many kilometers along the fault, says Bulut. The affected area "is quite large," he says. "Ten cities were structurally affected in Turkey."

Turkey has seismic codes to try to prevent buildings from collapsing, but Bulut says because this region has escaped a major quake for decades, it's possible that some older buildings are vulnerable. "Sometimes there are very old things, built before the rules existed," he says.

Steckler says he suspects that even some newer buildings may not have been up to code. "I know, certainly in Istanbul, there's a lot of illegal construction that goes on," he says.

More aftershocks are likely

The U.S. Geological Survey has already recorded more than a hundred aftershocks in the region, and experts expect they will continue for some time.

"That whole area, all the pieces of the Earth will slowly adjust and break and rupture and come to a new equilibrium," Steckler says.

• earthquake in Turkey and Syria

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Live Updates | Turkey, Syria earthquake kills thousands

Rescue efforts are continuing after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake has rocked wide swaths of Turkey and Syria. (Feb. 6)

Buildings continued to collapse on Monday as rescuers searched for survivors after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the border between Turkey and Syria. (Feb. 6)

Rescue efforts are continuing after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake has rocked wide swaths of Turkey and Syria. It toppled hundreds of buildings and killed more than 1,300 people. (Feb. 6)

Hundreds of people have been killed in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday morning. (Feb. 6)

Civil defense workers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Earthquake victims receive treatment at the al-Rahma Hospital in the town of Darkush, Idlib province, northern Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Firefighters carry the body of a victim in Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake that struck southeast Turkey and northern Syria has killed more than 640 people with hundreds injured. The toll is expected to rise as rescuers search for dead and survivors in dozens of collapsed buildings across the region. (AP Photo/Mahmut Bozarsan)

People walk next to a mosque destroyed by an earthquake in Malatya, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful quake has knocked down multiple buildings in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. (DIA images via AP)

People search a collapsed building following an earthquake in Azmarin town, Idlib province, northern Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Civil defense workers and security forces carry an earthquake victim as they search through the wreckage of collapsed buildings in Hama, Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Rescue workers try to reach trapped residents in a collapsed building in Kahta, in Adiyaman province, southeastern Turkey, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake that struck southeast Turkey and northern Syria has killed more than 640 people with hundreds injured. The toll is expected to rise as rescuers search for dead and survivors in dozens of collapsed buildings across the region. (AP Photo)

Rescue teams try to reach trapped residents inside collapsed buildings in Adana, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful quake has knocked down multiple buildings in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. (IHA agency via AP)

A car is seen under the wreckage of a collapsed building, in Azmarin town, in Idlib province, northern Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Rescue workers and medical teams try to reach trapped residents in a collapsed building following and earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, early Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country. (AP Photo/Mahmut Bozarsan)

People try to reach trapped residents in a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, early Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country.(AP Photo/Mahmut Bozarsan)

• Copy Link copied

ADANA, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated parts of southeast Turkey and northern Syria early Monday.

India and South Korea are among nations sending rescue personnel and supplies after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey and northern Syria.

India said it would send 100 members of its Natural Disaster Response Force, specially trained dog squads and equipment to Turkey. Medical teams with trained doctors, paramedics and essential medicines are also ready, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

South Korea will dispatch a 60-person search and rescue team and also send medical supplies.

In announcing the plan Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol described Turkey as a “brother nation” that sent troops to fight alongside South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. Turkey lost more than 700 of its forces in action.

Jeon Ha Gyu, spokesperson of South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said the ministry was arranging plans with related agencies to mobilize military aircraft to transport the rescue workers and aid supplies.

“It’s an obvious decision to help our brother nation Turkey to deal with this pain and difficulty,” Yoon said during a Cabinet meeting. “An incident involving such enormous casualties is more than just a disaster of a certain nation and should be seen as an international disaster, and the international society should fully perform its duty and responsibility.”

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

— The death toll in Turkey and Syria is expected to rise after the earthquake toppled thousands of buildings.

— Rescuers worked to pull more survivors from the rubble as cold, snowy conditions shorten the time needed to save lives.

— The earthquake wreaked new damage and suffering in Syria’s last rebel-held enclave after years of fighting and bombardment.

— Dozens of countries are sending experts and aid to help rescue efforts.

— What to know about the science behind the powerful quake and its aftershocks.

— Soccer player Christian Atsu is missing and believed trapped under rubble.

— A glance at some of the world’s deadliest earthquakes since 2000.

— Find more AP coverage of the earthquake at https://apnews.com/hub/earthquakes

War-ravaged Syria is calling on the United Nations and all member states to help with rescue efforts, health services, shelter and food aid following a massive earthquake that killed thousands in Syria and Turkey.

The quake-damaged area in Syria is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by government forces and borders Turkey.

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh told reporters the U.N. secretary-general “assured us that the U.N. will do all it’s possible in helping Syria in this very difficult situation.” Sabbagh said he had delivered a letter to Guterres from the country’s foreign minister requesting help.

Sabbagh was asked whether Syria would agree to allow the U.N. to deliver aid through other crossing points from Turkey, if that is feasible. He didn’t respond directly, but said the government is ready to help and coordinate aid deliveries “to all Syrians in all territory of Syria.”

The rebel-held territory has depended on a flow of aid from nearby Turkey for everything from food to medical supplies.

President Joe Biden called Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to express condolences. The White House in statement said that Biden underscored “the readiness of the United States to provide any and all needed assistance” to its NATO ally Turkey.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the Biden administration was sending two, 79-person urban search and rescue teams to support Turkey’s efforts.

Biden and Erdogan discussed other assistance that may be needed by people affected by the earthquakes, including health services or basic relief items, according to the White House.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared seven days of national mourning following the deadly quakes that hit the country Monday. Turkish flags will fly at half-staff across the nation and at its diplomatic missions overseas.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said at least 1,651 were dead and 11,119 injured across ten provinces. Hundreds more reported dead in neighboring Syria.

The Roman Catholic official responsible for the church’s properties across the Middle East is offering food and shelter to victims of Monday’s earthquake.

The Rev. Francesco Patton, the Jerusalem-based Custos of the Holy Land, says he will open all of the church’s buildings in northern Syria to provide shelter for families who have lost their homes.

His office, the Custodia Terrae Sanctae, says the properties can shelter hundreds of people and provide food and medical care for thousands.

Diplomats from the 193 member countries of the United Nations have stood in silent tribute to victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi on Monday extended “our deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences” to the government and people of both countries.

He then asked diplomats “to stand and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of those who lost their lives.” Kőrösi spoke at the start of a meeting to hear Secretary-General Antonio Guterres outline his priorities for 2023.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said such a disaster could hit “once in a hundred years” and that his country should be prepared for the death toll to rise.

Oktay also said some 145 aftershocks have been registered following the deadly quake overnight, with three that were larger than 6.0 magnitude.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the European Union “stand ready to offer our support” to Turkey as well. Sweden currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

The president of Turkey’s disaster management authority, Yunus Sezer, says more than 40 countries have so far offered help.

Turkey’s minister of education said schools throughout the country’s 81 provinces would be closed until Feb. 13 following the deadly earthquake.

Schools were closed for a two-week holiday and were set to open Monday but had remained shut in some cities because of snowstorms.

Britain is sending 76 search-and-rescue specialists with equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team, to Turkey.

The U.K. government said the teams, due later Monday, were bringing equipment including seismic listening devices, concrete cutting and breaking equipment, propping and shoring tools.

British Ambassador-designate Jill Morris said that “the British Embassy in Ankara is in close contact with the Turkish authorities to understand how we can best support those on the ground.”

The U.K. also says it’s in contact with the U.N. about getting support to victims in Syria.

A number of other countries joined the expanding international relief effort, including the United Arab Emirates which will set up a field hospital in Turkey and Qatar which was sending rescuers and emergency supplies.

Romania, Spain and Poland joined a European Union effort, sending rescuers, medics, dogs and specialized equipment. ___ While most of the international aid was headed for Turkey, Russia said it also planned to send assistance directly to its close ally Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Syrian President Bashar Assad in a phone call that Moscow will deliver urgent aid and send rescue workers to assist the earthquake-hit country. The Russian military in Syria has deployed 10 units numbering 300 people that started clearing the debris and searching for survivors, the Russian Defense Ministry said. ___ Egypt and Liverpool soccer star Mohamed Salah has offered condolences to Syrians and Turks following Monday’s devastating earthquake.

The striker wrote on Twitter: “Terrible news coming out of Syria and Turkey. My condolences for the lives lost and I wish all those injured a full recovery.” ___ The World Health Organization says it is helping a massive international effort to support Turkey and Syria deal with devastating earthquake damage and is in contact with Turkish authorities.

Hans Kluge, head of the WHO in Europe, said Monday that regional offices of the United Nations agency in the eastern Mediterranean were assisting the expanding international effort to swiftly transport medicine and relief equipment to quake-hit areas.

Kluge wrote in a tweet, “Amid the devastation wrought by today’s earthquake in Turkey ‒ a WHO Europe member state ‒ and Syria, deep condolences to all affected communities.”

Japan’s Foreign Ministry says the country is sending a group of about 75 rescue workers to Turkey to help in search and rescue operations.

An advance team of 18 people, including officials from the ministry, police, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, Japan Coast Guard and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, is to leave later Monday to set up their operation.

The ministry said Japan is dispatching the team as part of its emergency humanitarian support at the request of the Turkish government and based on humanitarian considerations as well as Japan’s friendship with Turkey.

Separately, the Swiss rescue dog service REDOG said it is preparing to send 22 rescuers with 14 dogs to the earthquake-hit region of Turkey.

Russian officials say the country’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has called his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar to offer condolences over the quake and proposing assistance.

Moscow is planning to send help to Turkey and Syria despite Russia’s western-led international isolation due the war in Ukraine.

Earlier Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to express his condolences.

In the telegram made public by the Kremlin, Putin said Russia is ready to “provide the necessary assistance” and offered his “profound condolences on the numerous fatalities and massive destruction caused by a powerful earthquake in your country.”

The Russian president also conveyed “sincere sympathy and support to the families of the deceased and wishes of a speedy recovery to everyone injured in this calamity.”

The European Union’s top foreign policy official says ten member states are providing urban search and rescue teams to help Turkey deal with massive earthquake damage.

In a joint statement, High Representative Josep Borrell and the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic said teams have been mobilized from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania to support the first responders on the ground.

Italy, Spain, and Slovakia have offered their rescue teams to Turkey as well.

They said the EU’s Copernicus satellite system had also been activated to provide emergency mapping services.

Greece and the Czech Republic announced details of their rescue missions, and are sending rescuers, rescue dogs, specialized vehicles, structural engineers, doctors and seismic planning experts.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed “deep sorrow” over the earthquake, adding that Greece is “placing all our rescue forces at Turkey’s disposal depending on what else they may ask us for.” A spokesperson for the Lebanese Red Cross told The Associated Press that Lebanon’s government is sending a team consisting of Lebanese army soldiers, Red Cross and Civil Defense first responders, and firefighters to Turkey to help with its rescue efforts. ___

Russia’s Rosatom company, which is building a nuclear power plant in the southern Turkish province of Mersin, some 270 kilometers (170 miles) from the epicenter, said the site was not affected by the quake.

In a statement Monday, Anastasia Zoteeva, general manager at the Akkuyu plant, said experts have not detected any damage to the buildings, equipment and cranes and that construction and assembly work are continuing at the site.

Turkey’s disaster management agency has reported that a new earthquake of magnitude 7.6 occurred close to the epicenter of Monday’s previous deadly quake, which also generated dozens of aftershocks. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the magnitude of the latest shock that occurred around 1024 GMT at 7.5 magnitude, with a depth of just 10 kilometers. Shallow earthquakes cause more damage.

It put the temblor near the town of Ekinozu, Turkey, also close to the southeastern city of Gaziantep which has a population of 2 million people and where the temperatures on Monday were hovering just above freezing. Orhan Tatar, an official from the Turkish disaster agency, told reporters that the two quakes were independent of each other. He said hundreds of aftershocks were expected after both.

The latest shock was felt as far as the eastern Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, where people took to social media to post footage of swaying curtains, while employees working in some high-rise buildings in the capital, Nicosia, quickly rushed outside.

___ Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said offers for help had been received from some 45 countries in the aftermath of Monday’s deadly earthquake and powerful, still ongoing aftershocks.

In a televised address, Erdogan announced that Turkey’s death toll had reached 912, adding that about 5,400 people were injured, while around 2,470 people were rescued from collapsed structures.

Some 3,000 buildings collapsed in the earthquake, he said. His announcement brought the death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria to more than 1,300 people.

“Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise,” Erdogan said.

“Our hope is that we recover from this disaster with the least loss of life possible, he added. “I pray that God protects us and all humanity from such natural disasters.”

___ NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said members of the alliance were mobilizing support to help Turkey deal with the aftermath of Monday’s devastating earthquake.

Stoltenberg expressed “full solidarity with our ally Turkey in the aftermath of this terrible earthquake ... NATO Allies are mobilizing support now.”

In a tweet, Stoltenberg said he was in contact with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Several NATO members have already said they are planning to send support to help victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Earlier, the European Union’s EU Civil Protection Mechanism said it had been activated to help provide international assistance, noting that rescue teams from the Netherlands and Romania were already on their way.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it would donate $200,000 to help Turkey with the rescue efforts and was coordinating with Turkey about sending specialized search and rescue teams. China also said there are no Chinese citizens among the victims. It did not say if it would be sending search and rescue teams. ___

Russia says it is readying rescue teams to fly to Turkey to help earthquake victims there and in neighboring Syria.

A minister of emergency situations, Aleksandr Kurenkov, said teams of 100 search and rescue personnel are on standby to be sent to Turkey with two Il-76 transport planes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also offered condolences in telegrams to the leaders of Syria and Turkey and expressed readiness to help.

The offer was made despite Russia’s international isolation led by Western nations over Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says a search and rescue team from the Netherlands will travel to the region of southeastern Turkey and northern Syria that was hit by a devastating earthquake.

“Terrible news about the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Our thoughts are with all the victims of this severe natural disaster,” Rutte said in a tweet Monday. He said he had sent condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dutch organization Urban Search and Rescue sends teams, including rescue workers, construction experts, doctors, nurses and sniffer dogs to the scenes of disasters around the world.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also offered help.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says authorities are preparing to send aid and assistance to Turkey following the deadly earthquake there. He said Israel was readying to send search and rescue teams and medical aid, after a request from Turkey’s government.

The two countries, once close regional allies, are in the process of mending ties after years of tensions.

Meanwhile, from neighboring Egypt, where the quake was also felt, the head of the Arab League called on the international community to also aid the Syrian people in the aftermath of the quake.

Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, the secretary-general of the pan-Arab organization, wrote on Twitter that an international assistance is required to help those impacted by “this humanitarian catastrophe.”

Turkey’s neighbor Greece and other countries in the region have offered to send immediate assistance to help with the rescue effort after Monday’s devastating earthquake that struck southeast Turkey and northern Syria.

“Greece is mobilizing its resources and will assist immediately ... (we are) deeply saddened by the devastating earthquake disaster,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote in a tweet. Writing in Turkish, Israeli President Isaac Herzog offered help in a message on Twitter, adding: “The State of Israel is always ready to send aid by any means possible. Our hearts go out to the families and Turkish people who are grieving at this painful time.” The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, in a statement early Monday, offered help to both Turkey and Syria following the powerful earthquake.

The deadly quake was felt in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and across parts of the region. The offers assistance were made despite strained relations between Turkey and several countries in the area including Greece and Egypt.

The president of war-torn Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has sent a message of support to Turkey to offer assistance in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday. “I am shocked to learn of deaths and injuries of hundreds of people as a result of the earthquake in Turkey,” Zelenskyy wrote in a tweet. “We send our condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery. At this time, we stand by the friendly Turkish people and are ready to provide the necessary assistance.” Ukraine has close ties with Turkey, which helped negotiate a Black Sea grain agreement last summer to resume vital exports as the war in the country continues. ___ Syria’s health officials say the death toll from Monday’s earthquake in government-held areas of the country has risen to to 237, with 639 reported injured. The announcement brought the combined death toll in Turkey and Syria to total 360, and includes 76 people reported killed in Turkey and 47 in opposition-held areas of Syria. In Turkey, the powerful quake destroyed a historic castle perched on top a hill in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.

Parts of the Gaziantep Castle’s walls and watch towers were levelled while other areas of the structure were damaged, images from the region showed.

The castle was first used as a watch tower and was expanded into a castle during Roman times. It underwent renovation numerous times, the last time in the early 2000s.

Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has issued a public appeal for people in quake-hit areas in southeast Turkey not to enter damaged buildings due to the risks and to help keep roads clear to give ambulances and rescuers access to damaged buildings.

“Our priority is to bring out people trapped under ruined buildings and to transfer them to hospitals,” Soylu said.

At least 130 buildings tumbled down in Turkey’s Malatya province, neighboring the epicenter, Gov. Hulusi Sahin said. In the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, at least 15 buildings collapsed.

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The geology behind the deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

This corner of the globe sits at the intersection of three tectonic plates, including the Arabian Plate that’s moving northward into Europe. Pressure along the fault has been building, and when it finally released, it appears that an area nearly 120 miles long and 15 miles wide got displaced, unleashing the earthquake. 

• By Ari Daniel

A man walks through the rubble of destroyed buildings in Antakya, southern Turkey, Feb. 8, 2023. With the hope of finding survivors fading, stretched rescue teams in Turkey and Syria searched Wednesday for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a catastrophic earthquake.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake emanated from southeast Turkey early Monday morning, toppling buildings and killing thousands of people in the country and in neighboring Syria.

The death toll has now surpassed 12,000 , with tens of thousands of injured. Search teams from around the world have joined local emergency personnel in Turkey and Syria to look for victims.

But what caused the devastating quakes that are among the deadliest this century ?

Most of Turkey, experts explain, sits on a slab of the Earth’s crust called the Anatolian Plate , which ends near the border with Syria.

“We have in the eastern Mediterranean a number of plates like a jigsaw puzzle,” said Tuncay Taymaz, a seismologist at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey.

This jigsaw puzzle is in constant motion. For instance, the massive, Arabian Plate to the south of Turkey is pushing northward, “which is mostly squeezing Turkey and the Anatolia[n] plate,” explained USGS seismologist Susan Hough.

Early Monday morning, the pressure along the East Anatolian fault zone running between the Anatolian Plate, to the north, and the Arabian Plate, to the south, had become too high for the crust to sustain, according to Zoë Mildon, an earthquake geologist at the University of Plymouth.

At a certain moment, “this rock cannot anymore withstand or resist this big energy,” said Marleine Brax, director of the National Center of Geophysics in Lebanon. “And it will slip. And this is what we call an earthquake.”

In the southern Gaziantep province of Turkey, at 4:17 a.m. local time, the part of the Anatolian Plate along the fault line slipped, lurching westward. The resulting earthquake measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, and it unleashed a ferocious amount of energy — the equivalent of detonating 8 million tons of TNT. The quake’s sheer power played a big role in making it so lethal.

Much of that energy emanates as waves.

“So, any earthquake, you can think of it as a symphony,” Hough said. “It’s releasing energy with a range of tones, or frequencies.”

Some of those frequencies cause more damage than others. There are the booming low tones — low-frequency waves like ocean swell that travel great distances but tend not to be too troublesome. And then, there are the higher-frequency waves, like choppy seas, that cause a lot of jitter.

“If you’re shaking the ground up and down every one second, that’s the energy that tends to be damaging to most buildings,” Hough said.

These are the vibrations that pancaked multistory buildings and reduced high-rises to heaps in southern Turkey, and northern Syria next door.

After Turkey’s major 1999 quake , the country updated its building codes. But a lot of construction predates that change, and that’s another reason this quake was so damaging. Buildings fashioned largely from concrete unfortified with steel rebar crumble more easily when shaken.

Taymaz blames faulty ethics in his country for a good share of the destruction.

“If you do everything by the book,” like earthquake-proof housing, he said, “you will be alright. But [there are] not many obeying the rules. There are, of course, a lot of corrupted engineers, scientists, manufacturers, you name it.”

Meanwhile, as buildings were collapsing, the seismic waves rippled away from the fault line. Tremors were picked up on seismographs thousands of miles away. People actually felt the shaking in neighboring countries.

By the time the energy reached places like Lebanon, Egypt, and Israel, Hough said it was mostly made up of the low-frequency waves. The more damaging, higher-frequency waves just don’t travel that far.

“Just like if you were listening to a distant symphony, you wouldn’t hear the piccolo, you might hear the bass drum,” she said.

Some nine hours after the 7.8 earthquake, an unusually large 7.5 aftershock rang out.

Seismic processes like these can take centuries to build up, but they can change human lives in a matter of seconds. Now, the window of rescue, complicated by the bitter cold, is rapidly closing.

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Earthquake in Turkey exposes gap between seismic knowledge and action – but it is possible to prepare

Professor of Public and International Affairs, former Director of the Center for Disaster Management, University of Pittsburgh

Associate Professor at Department of Statistics, Middle East Technical University

Professor of Earthquake Structural Engineering, Başkent University

Disclosure statement

Louise K. Comfort has received funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation through the Quick Response grant program at the Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado, Boulder and the University of Pittsburgh for three previous reconnaissance studies of earthquakes in Turkey.

Burcak Erkan is affiliated with Gelecek Partisi (Future Party) in Turkey.

Polat Gulkan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Pittsburgh provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.

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Two days after a devastating earthquake struck , Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited one of the worst affected areas and declared that it was “not possible to be prepared for such a disaster.”

Certainly the scale of the destruction was unforeseen. The death toll from the earthquakes of Feb. 6, 2023, that struck Turkey and northern Syria is still climbing. But one week on, it has been documented that over 35,000 people were killed , with more than 50,000 injured and over 1,000,000 receiving aid for survival in bitter cold conditions. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit while many were sleeping in the town of Pazarcık in Kahramanmaraş, southern Turkey – the epicenter of the quake. It was followed nine hours later by a major aftershock in Elbistan, a town about 50 miles from the initial quake, sending buildings weakened in the first shock to total collapse.

The final death tolls are likely to place these two successive earthquakes among the worst natural disasters that have been witnessed in the world.

The sobering question to us , as disaster mitigation scholars , is whether this enormous loss of lives, homes and livelihoods could have been avoided. There is no way to prevent an earthquake from occurring, but what can be prevented – or at least curtailed – is the scale of the calamity caused by these inevitable tremors.

In our view, any suggestion that a country cannot “be prepared” for an earthquake of the magnitude that hit Turkey and northern Syria is a political statement – that is, it reflects the political choices that were made rather than the science. In Turkey, the lack of preparedness contrasts sharply with the known conditions of seismic risk that the country faces.

Missed opportunities

According to the Turkey Earthquake Hazard Map , which was revised and published in 2018, nearly all of Turkey is vulnerable to seismic risk, with two significant fault lines – the East Anatolian Fault zone and the North Anatolian Fault zone – crisscrossing the country.

The North Anatolian Fault, 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) long, runs east to west across the northern half of the country, menacing the major cities of Ankara, the country’s capital, and Istanbul, and threatening the most industrialized section of the country. The East Anatolian Fault, about 620 miles (nearly 1,000 kilometers) in length, runs diagonally across the southeastern part of the country. It covers an area of smaller cities and villages, but millions of people are at risk in the region.

Turkey has made repeated efforts to address this fundamental seismic risk. In 1959, the Turkish parliament passed Disaster Law 7269 , establishing a plan to institute disaster preparedness regulations at national, provincial and municipal levels. The law raised awareness to some degree, but five significant earthquakes in the 1990s shattered any expectations that existing preparedness measures were sufficient to protect the growing population from death and destruction.

After the devastating 1999 earthquakes in the Marmara region of northwestern Turkey – in which more than 17,000 died – the Turkish government instituted a major program of recovery and rebuilding intended to strengthen building codes and improve cross-jurisdictional coordination. Yet, this ambitious program was hampered by chronic corruption and weak implementation of the building codes.

The Turkish government also levied an “earthquake tax” after the 1999 disaster, purportedly to raise funds to better prepare the country for future quakes. Since it was passed, an estimated US$4.6 billion has been raised through the levy. But there are serious questions over how the money has been spent .

Then in 2009, Turkey instituted a National Disaster and Emergency Management Authority to build capacity for disaster risk reduction and management.

AFAD’s mission was to organize disaster preparedness training for provincial and municipal officials and to conduct disaster preparedness training exercises for communities at risk. The approach was to decentralize and reverse the top-down governance approach, enabling local communities to strengthen their own capacity for managing disaster risk.

In a further bid to strengthen Turkey’s preparedness, the country introduced a National Disaster Response Plan in 2014. It set out the role of government institutions in case of a disaster under sections such as nutrition group, emergency sheltering group and communication group.

After the Soma mine accident of 2014, in which 301 miners were killed in an underground fire, the Turkish government initiated a review of the national plan. It appointed an international advisory committee that included participants from Japan, the U.S. and Europe to review the existing law and make recommendations for change.

The resulting recommendations included regular monitoring of risk, improved training of emergency personnel and updated technologies for interagency communication. The plan was presented to Turkey’s political leadership, which approved the changes in principle with a view to begin implementation in January 2015.

But the fully revised National Disaster Management Plan was never implemented. In early 2015, the national government changed the leadership of the National Disaster and Emergency Management Authority. In the process, experienced personnel who had advocated for better training, advanced communications technology and updated equipment for local governments were replaced. From our observation, this shift had the effect of reducing the capacity of local governments to take immediate action when hazards occur, as funds for training, new equipment and additional personnel were not granted. Although the plan was in place, little action was taken.

Lessons from Japan, California

The nonimplementation of the revised disaster plan reflects the gap between knowledge and action in managing Turkey’s seismic risk. It is not possible to stop the earthquakes, but it is possible to construct buildings that do not collapse and kill their residents on a massive scale – as both Japan and California have managed to do .

Turkey has designed and approved building codes that are the equivalent of the rigorous codes implemented in seismically challenged California. And there are approximately 150,000 civil engineers in Turkey who have the knowledge and skills to construct buildings, roads and dams that may suffer strain from seismic events but not fail.

But the cost of upgrading existing subpar buildings causes the effort to proceed at a glacially slow pace. While the building design regulation introduced in 2000 is implemented well in major cities, its state-of-the art requirements are poorly understood by engineers in the rest of the country.

A building construction supervision system has been in place since 2010, but its coverage is still too narrow to monitor the country’s 16 million buildings.

The way forward

Turkey again is at a crossroads and this latest disaster creates an urgent call for national action. Short-term solutions – rebuilding the same style of flawed housing and infrastructure – will only increase the chance of future tragedies.

But there is another course. Turkey’s current generation of engineers, economists, policy analysts and leaders can opt for bold action: redesigning their built environment to live with seismic risk, and engaging the whole population of Turkey in an ongoing experiment to create a society that recognizes earthquakes as a continuing threat that can be managed.

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Earthquake Damage in Türkiye Estimated to Exceed $34 billion: World Bank Disaster Assessment Report

ANKARA, February 27, 2023— The two very large earthquakes of February 6 caused an estimated $34.2 billion in direct physical damages in Türkiye, the equivalent of 4% of the country’s 2021 GDP, according to a World Bank rapid damage assessment report released today. The report also acknowledges that recovery and reconstruction costs will be much larger, potentially twice as large, and that GDP losses associated to economic disruptions will also add to the cost of the earthquakes.

Continued aftershocks will also likely add to this damage estimate over time, says the report, which has been prepared to help inform the early response of the World Bank Group and its partners and to support government planning for recovery and reconstruction in Türkiye.

The February 6 earthquakes of 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude, followed by more than 7,500 aftershocks and two additional earthquakes, have resulted in the largest such disaster to hit the country in over 80 years, and have inflicted the heaviest damage in 11 provinces in southern Türkiye. These regions have some of the highest poverty rates in Türkiye and also host more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees, which is almost 50% of the total Syrian refugee population in Türkiye.

The Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) Report , which focuses on the direct physical damages in Türkiye, also estimates that 1.25 million people have been rendered temporarily homeless due to moderate to severe damage or complete building collapse. The report also highlights that 81% of the estimated damages occurred in Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Malatya and Adıyaman provinces, which are home to around 6.45 million people (around 7.4% of the total population of Türkiye).

Direct damages to residential buildings account for 53% ($18 billion) of the total damage, with 28% of damage ($9.7 billion) in non-residential buildings (e.g., health facilities, schools, government buildings, and private sector buildings), and 19% of damage ($6.4 billion) related to infrastructure (e.g., roads, power, water supply). The damage estimates in the report do not include the broader economic impacts and losses for the Turkish economy, or the cost of recovery and reconstruction which could be significantly more than the direct damages and requires a more in-depth assessment.

“Our hearts go out to the people of Türkiye and Syria for the great loss and suffering from this disaster, ” said Anna Bjerde, World Bank Group Vice President for Europe and Central Asia .  “It is heartening to see the mobilization of the global community to help in the massive relief and rescue effort. The World Bank has immediately mobilized its technical expertise and financing to support Türkiye’s recovery efforts.”

On February 9, the World Bank announced an initial package of $1.78 billion in assistance to help relief and recovery efforts. This comprises immediate assistance of $780 million via Contingent Emergency Response Components (CERCs) from two existing projects in Türkiye and $1 billion in a new emergency recovery project to support people affected by this catastrophe.

“This disaster serves as a reminder of Türkiye’s high risk to earthquakes and of the need to enhance resilience in public and private infrastructure. As a leader in disaster risk management, the World Bank is committed to accompany Türkiye in its efforts to a disaster-resilient economic recovery,” said Humberto Lopez, World Bank Country Director for Türkiye .

Assessments are still ongoing, and given ongoing uncertainty and aftershocks, such as the magnitude 6.3 earthquake on February 20, 2023 in Hatay province, damage estimates may increase further.

For Syria, the World Bank has also undertaken a separate Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) Report to estimate direct physical damages in order to support the process of developing a roadmap for recovery and reconstruction. The report is scheduled for release on February 28, 2023.

The World Bank in Türkiye

The World Bank’s deep and productive partnership with Türkiye dates back to 1950. In recent years, the Bank has become a leading partner in supporting a green transition to help Türkiye protect its people against the impacts of climate change as well as disaster risk management, urban development, energy efficiency. The Bank has implemented the Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project; the Safe Schools Project financed by the Facility for Refugees in Türkiye, among others. Projects under implementation include the Seismic Resilience and Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings Project and Türkiye Resilient Landscape Integration Project. Last year, the World Bank published the Türkiye Country Climate and Development Report, which explores the linkages between climate and development to identify priority actions to reduce carbon emissions and build resilience. The World Bank’s Türkiye program currently stands at 30 active lending operations worth $9 billion.

The World Bank and Disaster Risk Management

Disasters hurt the poor and vulnerable the most. Over the past decade, the World Bank has emerged as the global leader in disaster risk management, supporting client countries to assess exposure to hazards and address disaster risks. The Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) approach can provide an initial rapid estimation of the physical post-disaster damage incurred by key sectors within two weeks of the disaster. The GRADE report for Türkiye was conducted and financially supported by the  Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) in collaboration with the World Bank.

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Turkey Earthquake A 6.3-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Turkey and Syria, Stirring Panic

The Turkish interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, said at least three people were killed in Hatay Province, one of the areas devastated by the Feb. 6 quake that killed more than 46,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

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Ben Hubbard and Cora Engelbrecht

Here is the latest on Monday’s earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

A powerful new earthquake struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on Monday evening, trapping people under more collapsed buildings in the same region where a devastating 7.8-magnitude quake and its aftershock destroyed more than 100,000 buildings, killed more than 46,000 people and left more than a million homeless.

The 6.3-magnitude quake on Monday hit near the town of Uzunbag in Turkey’s Hatay Province just after 8 p.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey . At least three people died and 213 were injured in Hatay, Turkey’s interior minister said in a news conference.

The mayor of Hatay, Lutfu Savas, told the Turkish broadcaster NTV that some structures had collapsed, trapping people underneath. “Unfortunately, we are receiving messages about people remaining under buildings,” he said, saying they had returned to their homes because they believed they were solid or to rescue their belongings.

Speaking to reporters in Ankara, the Turkish capital, Vice President Fuat Oktay said that eight people had been injured. Serkan Topal, a Turkish lawmaker who was in Hatay during Monday’s earthquake, told Turkey’s Halk TV, “I am afraid there are casualties,” without specifying if he meant dead or wounded.

The authorities in Turkey warned residents of the quake zone to stay away from damaged structures. The shaking on Monday spread terror across the quake zone, where many people, traumatized by the earlier disaster, are staying in tents and sleeping in their cars because they remain too scared to go inside buildings. “I’m trembling. We are all traumatized,” said Asu Askit, the wife of a hotel owner in the city of Adana. “I think I will stay in my car tonight.”

In Syria, residents fled their buildings for open areas and some people injured in stampedes were hospitalized, the state-run news media reported. In territory along the Turkish border held by forces opposed to Syria’s government, the White Helmets, a local rescue organization, also reported stampedes and said people had jumped from balconies to escape buildings.

Turkey’s disaster management said this week that more than 6,000 aftershocks had hit the 11 provinces that make up the disaster zone in the days since the initial quakes of early February. A few dozen of them had a magnitude between 5 and 6. The new quake could exacerbate the challenge of providing shelter to survivors still in the area, he said.

Juston Jones

Here’s how to contribute to organizations that have been aiding the rescue and recovery efforts in Turkey and Syria since the devastating Feb. 6 earthquake.

Farnaz Fassihi

Doctors Without Borders said in a statement that its medical teams on the ground in Idlib, Syria, and in Turkey were treating patients injured minutes after the earthquake on Monday, and that its teams were assessing the damages to clinics and hospitals already depleted from years of war and the previous earthquake.

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Save the Children, an aid agency on the ground in Syria and Turkey, warned of additional trauma to children already suffering from injuries, loss and displacement. “Families who have already lost everything have just experienced another devastating blow. For children caught up in this new earthquake, it must be like reliving a nightmare — a never-ending nightmare," the agency said in a statement on Monday.

Gulsin Harman

Reporting from Istanbul

In a town near the epicenter, it felt ‘like the earth had been pulled out under my feet.’

In Samandag, a town near the epicenter of Monday's earthquake, many residents had already been desperate for shelter and help in the wake of this month’s earlier earthquake.

The new quake sent them struggling to stay upright, Mehmet Ali Gumus, a lawyer from the town, said in a phone interview.

“We were taking refuge in a one-story house with a few families,” he said. “All of sudden, I felt like the earth had been pulled out under my feet. Such a strong quake. I don’t have words to describe it. I could not even walk straight to the door just one meter away.”

Mr. Gumus has been using his Twitter account to make urgent calls for aid relief, particularly tents, since the calamitous 7.8-magnitude earthquake and powerful aftershock on Feb. 6. His neighborhood of around 150 residences, Tavla, received only one tent from Turkey’s disaster management agency, he said.

“We gave that one tent to a family who had nowhere to stay,” he said on Monday night, his voice cracking. “They were staying in a small greenhouse, wrapped in nylons.”

He said that he had been pleading for over two weeks now with the government and the public. Some members of the public had responded by sending tents to the town.

But he said the need was overwhelming. “It’s been 15 days. I kept calling for families who really need a tent,” he said. “The distribution of tents did not happen.”

Hwaida Saad

Abdul Qader Dawalibi, an official from Aleppo, Syria, said he was seeing people who were anxious and remaining out in the streets, but luckily not seriously injured. So far, “we don't have people injured from damaged buildings, but we are worried that more buildings might fall because of aftershocks,” he said.

Cora Engelbrecht

Many families still had their bags packed from earlier this month.

ADANA, Turkey — Minutes after the ground shook, people across the city fled their homes to take shelter in gymnasiums.

Dozens of families streamed into the Aski Ataturk sports hall, toting young children, thin mattresses and bulging suitcases. Several carried birds in cages or led dogs on leashes. The room buzzed as neighbors and relatives shouted to each other from the bleachers or from across the room and embraced. Some unfolded blankets in a now-practiced routine, staking out space on the blue-topped floor and preparing to hunker down. For how long, nobody could say.

“For now, we are safe,” said Ulku Sahin, 62, who was sitting on the bleachers with her husband and her son’s family. “It was terrible; this was the third time,” she said, recalling how she and her husband took cover between their sofas.

They only had time to grab their jackets, she said, adding that she did not know how long they would stay. Her daughter-in-law, who has cancer, needs to receive urgent medical treatment on Tuesday. “I don’t know how she will be able to go inside. What can we do?”

Ms. Sahin is from Malatya, which was close to the Feb. 6 earthquake’s epicenter. She said she had lost friends and family.

Many families had just returned to their homes after sheltering in the gym after the earlier earthquake.

“We only went home six days ago,” said Ibrahim Oguz, who brought his wife and two sons to the gym after the first quake. They stayed for a week before feeling safe enough to return home. “Our morale is not great,” he said, propped against a black duffel that he said he had left packed at his front door, “just in case.”

“I had a feeling we would be back,” Mr. Oguz said gravely. The building next to his home was badly damaged in the first quake, he said, adding that they were too afraid to return just yet.

Raja Abdulrahim

In northwestern Syria, more than 130 people were injured, including some who suffered broken bones in stampedes as people rushed outside, and others who fainted or had panic attacks, according to the White Helmets emergency service group. Several buildings and walls also collapsed.

At least 213 people in Turkey were wounded and hospitalized in the quake, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Safak Timur

At least three people were killed in southern Hatay Province, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in a televised press conference. Rescue work continues in three buildings, he said, to look for at least six people.

Ben Hubbard

Social media users reported feeling the tremor as far away as Beirut, Lebanon, more than 150 miles from the epicenter.

‘People are screaming for their lives,’ after a quake that felt worse than the Feb. 6 disaster, a mayor said.

In the southernmost part of Turkey where the earthquake was centered on Monday, the ground shook more violently than it did in the Feb. 6 quake that devastated the region, a district mayor said, and once again “people are screaming for their lives.”

“But as the epicenter is here, we have felt it much stronger” than the earlier earthquake more than 80 miles away, Ibrahim Guzel, the mayor of the Defne district, told the Turkish broadcaster NTV.

“There is no electricity. I am trying to coordinate,” he said, “with people around me screaming.”

Mr. Guzel said there were people trapped under the debris, as there were two weeks ago.

“The situation is terrible,” he said, adding that survivors lacked shelter. “I want tents urgently for the people.”

Defne is in Turkey’s southernmost province, Hatay, just south of the city of Antakya and a few miles east of the epicenter of Monday’s quake. Swaths of Antakya were destroyed by the earthquake and a powerful aftershock that followed it early this month, and Hatay Province suffered severe damage.

Gülsin Harman

A Haberturk news channel reporter said the town of Samandag appeared to have completely lost electricity. “I feel like I'm walking into a pitch-black gallery,” she said.

There are people under the debris, İbrahim Guzel, the mayor of Defne, a town near the epicenter of the tremor, told the NTV broadcaster. "The situation is terrible," Guzel said. "There is no electricity."

In the city of Antakya, which was heavily damaged two weeks ago, rescue crews freed one person who had been trapped in a collapsed building and were working to free three others, according to broadcaster CNN Turk.

Nimet Kirac

Inside a public gymnasium in the southern Turkish city of Adana, dozens of people who fled their homes sat on blankets. Some had brought their pet dogs and birds. Many had come with bags they had already packed to be able to flee quickly, if necessary, after the Feb. 6 quakes. On the bleachers, families sat side by side, while children stayed close to their parents, afraid but also somewhat used to the drill. Outside the sports center, people discussed what to do next.

Carly Olson

The 6.3-magnitude earthquake was the 20th quake felt in the Turkey-Syria border region in the past 70 hours, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center.

Richard Pérez-Peña

Another severe blow to hard-hit Antakya: A smaller quake, but much closer.

The powerful earthquake that struck southern Turkey on Monday was far smaller than the one that devastated a wide swath of that country and Syria on Feb. 6. But for the people in and around the battered city of Antakya, it might not have felt like it.

The earlier quake had a magnitude of 7.8, compared to 6.3 for the one on Monday — on the logarithmic scale used to measure temblors, that means the first one was about 32 times as big, according to a calculator used by the U.S. Geological Survey.

But the intensity of shaking diminishes with distance from the fault that shifted, and the Feb. 6 earthquake was centered more than 80 miles from Antakya. The epicenter of Monday’s quake was just 10 miles from Antakya — in earthquake terms, nearly a direct hit.

Antakya, the ancient city formerly known as Antioch, and the surrounding Hatay Province in southern Turkey suffered enormous damage and casualties in the earlier quake, despite the distance. Many buildings in Antakya fell and many others were damaged. Experts warned that some buildings that apparently survived were weakened enough that they might fail in a smaller shock.

Videos and photos posted on social media on Monday purported to show more collapses in Antakya Monday’s quake. The mayor of Hatay, Lutfu Safas, told the Turkish broadcaster NTV that additional structures had collapsed on Monday, trapping people underneath.

All told, the Feb. 6 earthquake and its aftershocks killed more than 40,000 people in Turkey and Syria, collapsed thousands of buildings and drove millions of people from their damaged homes.

“Eight wounded have been brought to our hospitals," said Vice President Fuat Oktay in Ankara, the capital. Separately, he added, "Once again, I ask you kindly to not go into damaged buildings to retrieve stuff, to check stuff. Please do not enter. Think of yourself, of your family. There is no situation to panic.”

The mayor of Samandag, Refik Eryilmaz, told Turkish broadcaster Halk TV that many people have been left out in the cold, without shelter. “This could only be solved with more tents,” Eryilmaz said.

Michael Crowley

“The United States is here to support you in your time of need, and we will be by your side for as long as it takes to recover and rebuild,” said Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Ankara only hours before Monday’s earthquake.

Michael Crowley traveled to Turkey on the Secretary of State’s government plane.

On Blinken’s visit, quake relief soothes U.S.-Turkey tensions.

ANKARA — When Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken first planned a trip to Turkey, it promised to be a difficult, even contentious diplomatic visit.

Washington and Ankara have been at odds on several important issues, including Turkey’s ties to Russia, its refusal to allow Sweden and Finland to join NATO and the authoritarian drift of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has been so exasperating in so many ways in recent years that Mr. Blinken, in his confirmation hearing, referred to Ankara as a “so-called ally,” and in two years had not visited.

But less than two weeks before Mr. Blinken was due to arrive, a devastating earthquake in Turkey left more than 40,000 people dead. The disaster pushed other concerns to the background temporarily, offering the Biden administration a chance to reinforce an old alliance and earn some trust as they try to resolve their disputes.

The United States mobilized a major relief effort, sending elite search-and-rescue teams, heavy equipment, $85 million in humanitarian aid and at least another $80 million in private donations. When Mr. Blinken landed at Incirlik Air Base near the Turkish city of Adana on Sunday, he toured nearby earthquake damage by helicopter and U.S. military relief efforts at the base before announcing another $100 million in American aid.

At a news conference in Ankara on Monday alongside Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Mr. Blinken spoke like an unconditionally loving friend.

“The United States is here to support you in your time of need, and we will be by your side for as long as it takes to recover and rebuild,” he said. Hours later, a powerful, 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the already devastated city of Antakya in southern Turkey, causing more buildings to collapse.

Mr. Blinken’s message was reciprocated. Asked whether the American assistance would make solving other problems easier, Mr. Cavusoglu replied that “of course the solidarity that has been extended during difficult times will have a positive effect on relations.”

That is good news for the Biden administration. While U.S. officials find Mr. Erdogan to be routinely frustrating, they can’t afford to turn their backs on a country whose location and NATO membership give it enormous strategic importance. Washington also values Turkey’s influence in the Muslim world.

And, most recently, Mr. Erdogan has offered himself as a potential peace mediator between Russia and Ukraine, and he brokered a vital deal between them to allow for the shipment of desperately needed Ukrainian food products to the outside world.

Yet a bare-bones State Department readout of Mr. Blinken’s meeting on Monday with the Turkish leader offered few hints about whether, despite the good will the United States is earning at a moment of national tragedy, the men made any real progress toward resolving the many underlying disputes between their countries.

Most pressing is the question of NATO expansion to include Finland and Sweden, two countries that dropped their longstanding policy of nonalignment in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The expansion plan was unveiled with much fanfare nine months ago and celebrated by President Biden as a major setback for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

But adding new nations to NATO requires the unanimous approval of its 30 member states, and so far, Mr. Erdogan has refused. He surprised Western leaders with bitter complaints that Sweden and Finland were too accommodating of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party , or P.K.K., a Kurdish nationalist group that has long staged attacks inside Turkey and that both Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist organization.

The Turkish leader is still holding out after months of negotiations, despite promises by the Swedes and Finns to take a harder line on P.K.K. activists and supporters operating within their borders. Turkey has demanded that they be extradited to face prosecution. (Turkey now says its issues with Finland are largely resolved but that Sweden has much more to do.)

Some U.S. officials believe Mr. Erdogan may be posturing ahead of national elections scheduled for May. After 20 years in power, he has declined in popularity and is seeking another term as president. But no one is sure what, exactly, is on Mr. Erdogan’s mind.

In Congress, lawmakers have begun signaling to Mr. Erdogan that he may pay a steep price for his obstruction: 27 senators of both parties signed a letter in early February vowing to block the Biden administration from selling F-16 fighter jets to Turkey unless Mr. Erdogan signs off on Swedish and Finnish membership.

On Monday, Mr. Blinken noted that the Biden administration supports the fighter jet sale, saying it is important to the U.S. that its NATO allies have modern, integrated equipment. Although he said that the Biden administration does not link the proposed sale to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, he added that he had been discussing the matter with Congress and expressed confidence that the new applicants would eventually be admitted.

But standing beside him, Mr. Cavusoglu offered no hint that Turkey was prepared to yield, and complained that pro-P.K.K. “activities are continuing” in Stockholm.

Mr. Cavusoglu also suggested that the Biden administration can strong-arm Congress to secure the F-16 sale if it chooses. “If the U.S. administration has a firm stance and if we work together, we believe that we can overcome this resistance,” he said.

Mr. Cavusoglu did acknowledge, in response to a question, that U.S. officials had expressed concern that trade between Russia and his country — which has not signed on to the Western sanctions against Moscow — had boomed since the start of the war in Ukraine, helping to fill Russia’s war coffers.

But he sought to downplay the issue, saying that figures showing a surge in commerce between Turkey and Russia largely reflected higher energy prices. He said claims that Turkey has been a conduit for military-capable technology denied to Russia by sanctions were “not correct,” and that Turkey would take action against any demonstrated violations.

Mr. Blinken made no comment about other friction points. One is Mr. Erdogan’s authoritarian brand of politics, which has featured a harsh clampdown on Turkey’s civil society, news media and political opposition, and led Turkey to be excluded from a democracy summit Mr. Biden hosted at the White House last year.

Nor did Mr. Blinken mention concerns in Washington that the Turkish leader might use the earthquake as a pretext to suspend his country’s spring elections for self-interested reasons.

The secretary seemed more determined on this trip in spotlighting America’s post-earthquake response. After touring quake damage with Mr. Cavusoglu in a Turkish military helicopter, Mr. Blinken joined a line of NATO soldiers loading boxes of electric and gas heaters onto a flatbed truck for distribution. He then personally thanked the two 80-person American search-and-rescue teams who deployed to Turkey just after the quake struck.

Mr. Blinken also seemed to be offering good will another way: by pronouncing his host country’s name in line with its government’s preference. The Turks want the world to stop using a name that in English is an ungainly, flight-challenged bird, and sometimes an insult.

For more than a year, the government has asked that the country be known internationally as “Türkiye,” with three syllables, as it is in Turkish, and it now uses that name at the United Nations. The U.S. State Department officially began using it last month.

In his remarks, Mr. Blinken took care to adopt the new pronunciation.

Christine Hauser and Jin Yu Young

Earthquake in Turkey and Syria is one of the deadliest in decades.

The death toll in Turkey and Syria after Feb. 6’s earthquake has surpassed 46,000, which would make it among the deadliest since 2000.

In Turkey alone, the death toll reached more than 40,000 people by Sunday, exceeding the toll from the country’s Aug. 17, 1999, earthquake about 60 miles from Istanbul that killed nearly as many people. The latest death toll also surpassed the 16,000 deaths in Japan in 2011, when a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, swept through the entire Pacific coastline.

Here are some of the deadliest earthquakes since 2000, according to data compiled by the United States Geological Survey :

About 298,000 deaths, South Asia, 2004: The most powerful earthquake in four decades ripped across South Asia on Dec. 26, 2004 , generating tidal surges that were felt as far away as Africa. The epicenter of the magnitude 9.1 quake was off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra. The majority of the deaths occurred in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India.

About 226,000 deaths, Haiti, 2010: A magnitude 7.0 quake, the worst in the region in over 200 years, struck the Caribbean nation on Jan. 12, 2010, and was followed by several aftershocks. The earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and left more than a million people homeless.

About 86,000 deaths, Pakistan, 2005: The Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir saw a magnitude 7.6 quake on Oct. 8, 2005, that killed more than 85,000 people, including in neighboring Afghanistan and India.

About 88,000 deaths, China, 2008: A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit a mountainous region outside Chengdu , the capital of Sichuan Province, on May 12, 2008, setting off landslides and destroying almost 80 percent of the infrastructure at the epicenter.

About 33,000 deaths, Iran, 2003 : A magnitude 6.6 earthquake rocked Bam , an ancient city in southeast Iran, killing more than 30,000 and devastating up to 90 percent of its residential areas. Aftershocks cut power lines and water services. Rescue efforts were delayed for hours, leaving displaced citizens outside in freezing temperatures.

About 20,000 deaths, India, 2001: A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the western state of Gujarat in January, killing as many as 20,000 people .