What to Know about the Big Quake that Hit Türkiye and Syria

Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast of Türkiye, 06 February 2023. (EPA)
Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast of Türkiye, 06 February 2023. (EPA)
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What to Know about the Big Quake that Hit Türkiye and Syria

Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast of Türkiye, 06 February 2023. (EPA)
Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast of Türkiye, 06 February 2023. (EPA)

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Monday devastated wide swaths of Türkiye and Syria, killing thousands of people.

Here's what to know about the quake.

What happened?

The quake hit at depth of 11 miles (18 kilometers) and was centered in southern Türkiye, near the northern border of Syria, according to the US Geological Survey.

Many aftershocks have rocked the area since the initial quake. In the first 11 hours, the region had felt 13 significant aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5, said Alex Hatem, a USGS research geologist.

Scientists are studying whether a magnitude 7.5 quake that hit nine hours after the main shock is an aftershock. Hatem said it appears to be the case.

“More aftershocks are certainly expected, given the size of the main shock,” Hatem said. “We expect aftershocks to continue in the coming days, weeks and months.”

What type of earthquake was this?

Researchers said the earthquake was a strike-slip quake, where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally, instead of moving up and down.

In this case, one block moved west while the other moved east — grinding past each other to create the quake, Hatem said.

The quake occurred in a seismically active area known as the East Anatolian fault zone, which has produced damaging earthquakes in the past.

Türkiye had another major earthquake in January 2020 — a magnitude 6.7 that caused significant damage.

Why was this earthquake so devastating?

The earthquake was powerful — one of the biggest strike-slip earthquakes that has hit on land, Hatem said.

“On top of that, it's located near populated areas,” she said.

Building collapses were reported in cities including Diyarbakir, Türkiye, and Aleppo, Syria.

Rescue efforts were also hampered by freezing temperatures and traffic jams from residents trying to leave quake-stricken areas.



Greeks Mourn, Turks Celebrate Anniversary of Invasion that Split Cyprus

A woman walks next to the graves of soldiers killed in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus at the Tymvos Makedonitissas military cemetery in Nicosia, Cyprus July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
A woman walks next to the graves of soldiers killed in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus at the Tymvos Makedonitissas military cemetery in Nicosia, Cyprus July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
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Greeks Mourn, Turks Celebrate Anniversary of Invasion that Split Cyprus

A woman walks next to the graves of soldiers killed in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus at the Tymvos Makedonitissas military cemetery in Nicosia, Cyprus July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
A woman walks next to the graves of soldiers killed in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus at the Tymvos Makedonitissas military cemetery in Nicosia, Cyprus July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou

Greek and Turkish Cypriots marked on Sunday the 51st anniversary of Türkiye’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus, an event that split the island and remains a source of tension between NATO partners Greece and Türkiye.

Air raid sirens sounded across the southern Greek Cypriot-populated parts of Cyprus at 5:30 a.m. (0230 GMT), the exact time when Turkish troops landed on the northern coast in a military intervention triggered by a brief Greece-inspired coup.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was due to attend celebrations in north Cyprus, a breakaway state recognized only by Ankara.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides attended a memorial service in the south to commemorate the more than 3,000 people who died in the Turkish invasion, which also drove tens of thousands of Greek Cypriots from their homes.

"Despite those who want us to forget, we will never forget, or yield an inch of land," Christodoulides said, calling celebrations in the north "shameful".

Efforts to reunify Cyprus as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation have repeatedly failed amid deep-rooted mistrust and competing visions for the island's future.

Before the invasion, clashes between Turkish and Greek Cypriots saw Turkish Cypriots withdraw from a power-sharing government and prompted the deployment of UN peacekeepers in 1964.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said the invasion had brought "peace and tranquility" to the island following the "darkest years" for Turkish Cypriots.

"Their (Greek Cypriots) goal was to destroy the Turkish Cypriots," he said in a video address posted on X.

The simmering conflict complicates Türkiye's ambitions to foster closer ties with the European Union, of which both Cyprus and Greece are members.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week the two sides would continue discussions on trust-building measures, warning that "there is a long road ahead".