1999 İzmit earthquake
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| 1999 İzmit earthquake | ||
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| Date | August 17, 1999 | |
| Magnitude | 7.4 Mw | |
| Countries affected | Turkey | |
| Casualties | 17,480 dead and 23,781 injured | |
The 1999 İzmit earthquake had a magnitude of 7.4, lasted for 48 seconds, killed over 17,000 people in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday 17 August 1999 at 3:01 am, and left approximately half a million people homeless.
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[edit] Damage and Casualties
The official number of casualties is 17,480 dead and 23,781 injured,[1] yet some have claimed that the real death toll could be over 35,000. The earthquake was heavily felt in the industrialized and highly populated urban areas of the country, including oil refineries, several automotive industrial facilities, Turkish navy headquarters and arsenal in Gölcük thus increasing the severity of the life and property loss.
The death toll increased in winter because of poor conditions of shelters of survivors.
The earthquake caused major damage to the TUPRAS oil refinery, which had over 700,000 tonnes of oil stored.
Turkish soldiers were given 45 days leave to help rescue their relatives. Bodies were buried quickly in mass graves to stop any spread of disease.
[edit] Earthquake source
The earthquake had a rupture length of 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the city of Düzce all the way into the Sea of Marmara along the Gulf of İzmit. Movement along the rupture was as large as 5.7 meters (18.7 ft). (Reilinger, et al., 2000)
This earthquake occurred in the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ). The Anatolian Plate which consists primarily of Turkey is being pushed west about 2-2.5 cm (0.8-1.0 in) every year, as it is squeezed between the Eurasian Plate on the north, and both the African Plate and the Arabian Plate on the south. Most of the large earthquakes result as slip occurs when they give head along the NAFZ or Eastern Anatolian Fault.
[edit] International Response
Greece was the first foreign country to pledge aid [2] and support Turkey. Within hours of the earthquake, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs had gotten in touch with their counterparts in Turkey, and the minister sent his personal envoys in Turkey. The Greek Ministry of Public Order sent in a rescue team of 24 people and 2 trained rescue dogs, the Ministry also sent fire extinguishing planes to help with putting out the fire in the TUPRAS refinery. The U.K announced an immediate grant of £50,000 to help the Turkish Red Crescent. Also the International Red Cross and Red Crescent promised £4.5 million to help victims. Blankets, medical supplies and food were flown from Stansted airport. Engineers from Thames Water went to help restore water supplies. Teams of rescue experts left from 12 countries to help the rescue effort. Then US President Bill Clinton and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Istanbul and İzmit to review the damage.
[edit] See also
[edit] External Links
[edit] References
- ^ In Turkish: "2000 yılı Ağustos ayında Başbakanlık Kriz Yönetim Merkezi tarafından yayınlanan "Depremler 1999" kitapçığı"
- ^ Greek and International Aid to Turkey
