Several earthquakes shake Turkiye in the last two days

After the earthquakes in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat and the northern province of Tokat, Turkiye on Thursday April 18, the country has been shaken by a 4.5-magnitude earthquake in the western province of İzmir and aftershocks in Tokat, including a 5.6-magnitude tremor.

Two tremors struck Yozgat and Tokat provinces April 18, rattling residents and drawing attention to the seismic vulnerability of the area. The first tremor, registering at 4.8 magnitude, hit Yozgat at 1:06 a.m., followed by a 4.1 magnitude quake 02:35 a.m. in Tokat.

Professor Dr. Süleyman Pampal, an earthquake expert, cautioned that these events could signal activity on secondary faults, potentially leading to more significant earthquakes. His warning proved prescient when a 5.6 magnitude quake struck Tokat at 6:11 p.m. on the same day, damaging hundreds of structures. After this earthquake, 35 more earthquakes were recorded, the largest with a 4.4 magnitude.

As Türkiye was grappling with the consequences of these earthquakes, a 4.5 magnitude earthquake occurred at a depth of 7-kilometers in İzmir’s Seferihisar district on April 19.

Deputy Interior Minister Münir Karaloğlu has provided an update on the earthquakes in Tokat and Yozgat and said, "In Tokat, there are damages in three districts, 30 villages, 191 houses, 84 barns, seven mosques and a bakery, but no collapse. And we have preliminary damage assessments on 94 houses, four mosques and three barns in one district, seven villages in Yozgat.”

The North Anatolian Fault Line (NAF), spanning 1,500 kilometers and 50 kilometers wide, poses a constant threat to Tokat and neighboring provinces. Pampal emphasized the interconnectedness of secondary faults with the NAF, underscoring their potential to trigger earthquakes ranging from 5 to 6 magnitudes.