Major earthquakes triggering minor earthquakes is a geological phenomenon that has previously been observed in faults such as the USA’s San Andreas Fault and Türkiye’s North Anatolian Fault. The Düzce earthquake on November 12, 1999, was triggered by the Gölcük earthquake that hit three months earlier. Furthermore, the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that happened in Erzincan on December 26, 1939, triggered the 7.1 magnitude Erbaa-Niksar earthquake on December 20, 1942, in the west, and the second one also triggered the 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Tosya on November 26, 1943. The major difference between recent and past earthquakes in our country is that the interval between the main and triggered earthquakes is as short as 9 hours. Additionally, it is the first time in our country’s history that the same region has been affected by two huge and two mid-scale (6.6 and 6.0) earthquakes in a very short period of time.

In terms of the death toll, the Erzincan earthquake ranks eighth among earthquakes of the twentieth century. The number of people who died in Maraş-centred earthquakes is over 49 thousand. It differs from the Erzincan earthquake in that it happened in a region encompassing 11 provinces with a population of 13.5 million, affecting multi-storey buildings that violate current building regulations.

Compared to natural disasters that occur around the world, the magnitude of these earthquakes is especially striking. None of the seismic events that killed thousands of people, such as the earthquakes in Türkiye, happened so close to the earth’s surface and one after the other.

Every year, the earth experiences 10-18 earthquakes with magnitudes between 7 and 8. The Kahramanmaraş-centred earthquakes, the worst seismic event in Turkish history since the 526 Antioch earthquake, rank fifth on the list of the deadliest earthquakes of the twenty-first century, following the 2004 Indonesia, 2010 Haiti, 2008 Sichuan, and 2005 Kashmir earthquakes.