Thread by @BenjaminFeve

While #Turkey is very a seismically active area and strong earthquakes frequently take place, this is NOT the case for #Syria. The February 6 Earthquake only further highlights the Syrian people's unluckiness.

A thread on earthquakes in Syria according to official data.

I went through the 7,200+ earthquakes recorded by Syria's National Center for Earthquakes (NCE) between 1995 and 2021 and here is what I found:

1. Since 1995, no earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 and over was recorded on Syrian territory. Turkey witnessed 18.

In fact, the last event of an equivalent intensity to have struck #Syria was the 1202 #Damascus earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.4 to 7.6. It resulted in an estimated 30,000 deaths. Taking into account the margin of error, the two events can be considered of equivalent strength.

2. Since 1995, a mere 35 earthquakes with a magnitude superior or equal to 4.0 and only one with a magnitude superior to 5 occurred on the Syrian territory. The 5.6-magnitude earthquake, which is the strongest on record*, took place near #Palmyra on December 24, 1996.

Due to the event's remote location and relatively low intensity, neither casualties nor damages were reported.

*The February 6, Earthquake happened outside Syria, leaving the 1996 Palmyra Earthquake as the country's most important seismic event on record.

3. Most earthquakes recorded by the NCE occurred alongside the Dead Sea Transform system (coastal area) and the East Anatolian Fault system (Turkish border). The others along the Zagros Thrust Zone system (Iraqi border) and the Shear Palmyride Fault system (Central).

4. Thus, out of the 7,200 earthquakes recorded by the NCE in #Syria and its neighbourhood, some 3,500 occurred outside Syria, mostly along the Syria-Turkey and Syria-Iraq borders. Besides, most of them were of very low intensity. About 5,880 had a magnitude of 2.9 or less.

From the remaining 1,320, about 1,180 had a magnitude between 3.0 and 3.9, while another 134 ranged from 4.0 to 4.9. Of the last six 5.0+ earthquakes, all occurred outside #Syria, except the 1996 Palmyra event. Interestingly, the NCE did not record the 1998 Adana Earthquake.

5. I'll add an interesting piece of trivia regarding the data provided by the NCE (affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources established in 1995).

Since 2009, the number of earthquakes reported by the NCE increased significantly. Why?

While the NCE did not provide any reason for the increase, the most probable explanation revolves around the implementation of a new methodology taking into account smaller seismic events (>2.9).

Between 2009 and 2021 the NCE reported two times more earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0+ compared with 1995-2008 (899 against 424), while it reported nearly ten times more earthquakes with a strength of 2.9 or less compared with the same period (5,112 against 567).

6. To read more about earthquakes in Syria, see @TheSyriaReport's two open-access pieces published today:
-"Turkish Earthquake Strongest Felt in Syria in Centuries"
-"Number of Earthquakes Recorded by the National Center for Earthquakes (1995-2021)"

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A. syria-report.com/turkish-earthq…
B. syria-report.com/chart-number-o…

To read the other @TheSyriaReport news related to earthquakes:⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
syria-report.com