Many earthquakes have happened in the past few years and caused immense damage and killed or displaced thousands of people. Earthquakes are graded on how much damage they do as long as other factors such as how deep the quakes are coming from and how large the waves are.

The Mercalli Intensity Scale is how we measure earthquakes. A grade of 3 is so little that some people may not even feel the tremors, however, a level of 7-8 can be catastrophic. Every number on the scale that goes up is 32 times the power of the one before, so a level 4 is 32 times more powerful than a level 3.

On February 6th, a 6.7 level earthquake hit the country of Turkey. The numerous aftershocks after the original earthquake caused the most damage. The highest level of aftershock that hit Turkey was measured at level 7.8. This did more damage than a single 7.8 earthquake because the first tremors loosened up the buildings and made them unstable. This toppled the weaker structures first and then the aftershocks destroyed the already weakened buildings. 

Turkey is situated on top of four tectonic plates that slide horizontally across each other, also known as tectonic shifting, causing earthquakes to happen more frequently. Even though the Southeastern United States is on top of 2 tectonic plates, they slide under each other instead of sliding into each other, which is known as subduction. This causes less powerful earthquakes because tectonic plates colliding directly causes a much more violent quake than if they are shifting. When the tectonic plates under Turkey shift, it causes a very violent back-and-forth motion that most buildings can’t withhold.

The earthquake occurred right on top of a crease in between 3 tectonic plates, the Arabian plate, the African plate, and the Eurasian plate. Gaziantep, the city hit by the worst of the earthquake, is home to 2.13 million people. Eleven thousand of those people have been confirmed dead while tens of thousands have been displaced or injured.

Some of these people are still trapped and in danger of death. Those still awaiting rescue are in immediate danger because a cold front is approaching Gaziantep, which will make the already freezing temperatures much colder. Currently, the daylight temperature is on average 25-28 degrees Fahrenheit, plenty cold enough to kill someone with hypothermia. The night temperatures get even colder going down into the teens.

People have survived for weeks under rubble in former earthquake accidents, but the freezing temperatures and the mass amounts of people still waiting to be rescued will impact how many people can be saved. 

Emergency services are doing their best to rescue as many people as they can in the quickest way possible. The current circumstances along with how many people have lost their lives already, the Gaziantep earthquake will be remembered in infamy for decades to come.