The 2023 Great Kahramanmaraş Earthquake is two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.8 Mw (± 0.1) and 7.6 Mw, which occurred nine hours apart on February 6, 2023, with epicenters in Pazarcık and Elbistan districts of Kahramanmaraş, respectively. As a result of the earthquakes, according to official figures, at least 50 thousand 783 people died in Turkey and at least 8 thousand 476 people in Syria and more than 122 thousand people were injured in total. After the earthquakes, more than 38 thousand aftershocks with magnitudes up to 6.7 MW occurred.
The first earthquake, centered in Pazarcık, was felt in a wide geography including Turkey and Syria, as well as Lebanon, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Iran and Egypt. Two major earthquakes caused damage in an area of approximately 350,000 km2 (140,000 square miles), the size of Germany's total area, and affected 14 million people, 16% of Turkey's population. At least 35,355 buildings were destroyed in Turkey, including Gaziantep Castle, Habib-i Neccar Mosque, Kahramanmaraş Grand Mosque, Hatay Parliament Building, Şirvan Mosque, Adıyaman Grand Mosque, Elbistan Grand Mosque and the Latin Catholic Church in Iskenderun. Many historical buildings were heavily damaged or destroyed.[20] While 102 countries offered assistance to Turkey, 9 thousand 315 search and rescue personnel from 88 countries were dispatched to earthquake regions. Dozens of countries sent first aid supplies, equipment, medical teams and published condolence messages.
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