Erdogan calls Turkey’s earthquake its ‘largest disaster’ since the 1939 Erzincan quake: What happened in Erzincan?

The 1939 earthquake that Erdogan referred to is the Erzincan earthquake, in which about 33,000 people are thought to have been killed. It took place on December 26, 1939, and caused “extreme damage in the Erzincan Plain and the Kelkit River Valley”, according to a list of historic earthquakes on the USGS website.

The earthquake measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, occurred on the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), and created a 360-km-long surface rupture, traces of which are still visible, according to a 2013 Harvard University study.

The USGS note says that more than 300 km of “surface faulting” was observed between Erzincan and Niksar, “with as much as 3.7 m of horizontal displacement and 2.0 m of vertical offset”. A tsunami at Fatsa on Turkey’s Black Sea coast was recorded by tide stations from Tuapse, Russia to Sevastopol, Ukraine, according to the USGS record.

Other earthquakes

Turkey sits on the Anatolian tectonic plate, which borders two major faults—the North Anatolian fault that cuts across the country from west to east, and the East Anatolian fault in the southeast.

🔴 2020: In October 2020, an earthquake measuring 7 hit the Greek island of Samos in the Aegean Sea, killing at least 24 in Turkey and more in Greece.

🔴 2020: In January that year, an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 killed at least 22 people in eastern Turkey. Tremors were felt in neighbouring Syria, Georgia, and Armenia.

🔴 2011: In October 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 with epicentre in Van province in eastern Turkey close to the border with Iran, killed at least 138 people.

🔴 2010: In March 2010, a magnitude 6 earthquake killed 51 people in eastern Turkey, which was followed by several large aftershocks.

🔴 1999: In August 1999, the Izmit earthquake in western Turkey measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, killed more than 17,000 people.