An earthquake expert has said that Turkey records about three major earthquakes every 20 years, a high frequency that reflects the Eurasian country’s high seismic risk and the need to strengthen disaster preparedness measures.
Professor Mehmet Ali Kaya, director of the Natural Disaster Management Research and Application Centre (TÜDAM) at the University of Thrace, in the European province of Edirne, warned during a recent conference entitled ‘The reality of earthquakes in Turkey’ that the Turkish territory continues to be exposed to intense seismic activity. As Kaya explained, plate and tectonic faults movements are constant in the region where Türkiye is located.
In fact, after the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes of 6 February 2023, which devastated southeastern Anatolia causing more than 53,000 deaths, tremors still continue to occur in the affected area; also, providing data on seismic activity in Turkey, Kaya pointed out that the country records an earthquake of magnitude 4 or higher approximately every ten days.
Recalling that earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.5 or higher are perceived by humans with particular intensity, Kaya added that “in the last 125 years, 47 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 6.5 have occurred in Turkey. We experience an earthquake of this magnitude approximately every 2.5 years. These types of earthquakes are felt very strongly and can also cause a lot of damage,” he was quoted as saying by the Turkish daily Milliyet.
According to the expert, during the same 125-year period, Turkey has recorded 19 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 7. “As a result, we experience approximately three major earthquakes every 20 years. If we take into account the earthquakes with epicentres in Kocaeli and Düzce (Marmara) in 1999, the Van earthquake in 2010 and the Kahramanmaraş earthquake in 2023, there have been five major earthquakes in the last 26 years. Knowing this reality, we must take the necessary precautions,” the seismologist concluded.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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