1975 Lice earthquake
Encyclopedia
The 1975 Lice earthquake was a magnitude 6.7
earthquake
that struck the Turkish district of Lice
at 12:20 local time (09:20 UTC
) on September 6, 1975, killing 2,311 people. The epicenter
was located near the town of Lice. The maximum felt intensity was VIII (Destructive) on the Mercalli intensity scale
.
and the Eurasian Plate
. The main result of this collision is the southwestward escape of the Anatolian Plate
by displacement along the North Anatolian
and East Anatolian Fault
s. To the east of these faults, the plate boundary is a zone of orthogonal collision, with the relative displacement spread out over a wide zone, continuing as far north as the Greater Caucasus
. The largest fault within the plate boundary zone is the west-east trending Bitlis frontal thrust and the 1975 earthquake is thought to have been caused by movement on this structure.
s (sections) of the town were completely destroyed. 6 schools, 6 mosques and 132 commercial buildings were damaged. In the 188 villages surrounding Lice that were affected, 5,555 houses suffered either severe damage or total destruction.
s that continued for more than a month. The focal mechanism
for the earthquake suggests that it was associated with dominantly reverse movement on a fault plane dipping at 45° to the northwest with a significant sinistral (left lateral) component.
. Aid in the form of food and some other supplies from foreign agencies were treated with suspicion with much unfamiliar tinned food being sold for animal feed.
Richter magnitude scale
The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....
earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
that struck the Turkish district of Lice
Lice, Turkey
Lice is a district of Diyarbakır Province in Turkey. The population is 9,644 as of 2010. It is located from the capital, Diyarbakır....
at 12:20 local time (09:20 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
) on September 6, 1975, killing 2,311 people. The epicenter
Epicenter
The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates...
was located near the town of Lice. The maximum felt intensity was VIII (Destructive) on the Mercalli intensity scale
Mercalli intensity scale
The Mercalli intensity scale is a seismic scale used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake. It measures the effects of an earthquake, and is distinct from the moment magnitude M_w usually reported for an earthquake , which is a measure of the energy released...
.
Tectonic setting
The tectonics of Turkey are dominated by the effects of the continuing collision between the African PlateAfrican Plate
The African Plate is a tectonic plate which includes the continent of Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding ocean ridges.-Boundaries:...
and the Eurasian Plate
Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia...
. The main result of this collision is the southwestward escape of the Anatolian Plate
Anatolian Plate
The Anatolian Plate is a continental tectonic plate consisting primarily of the country of Turkey.The easterly side is a boundary with the Arabian Plate, the East Anatolian Fault, a left lateral transform fault....
by displacement along the North Anatolian
North Anatolian Fault
The North Anatolian Fault is a major active right lateral-moving strike-slip fault in northern Anatolia which runs along the transform boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate. The fault extends westward from a junction with the East Anatolian Fault at the Karliova Triple...
and East Anatolian Fault
East Anatolian Fault
The East Anatolian Fault is a major strike-slip fault zone in eastern Turkey. It forms the transform type tectonic boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the northward-moving Arabian Plate. The difference in the relative motions of the two plates is manifest in the left lateral motion along the...
s. To the east of these faults, the plate boundary is a zone of orthogonal collision, with the relative displacement spread out over a wide zone, continuing as far north as the Greater Caucasus
Greater Caucasus
Greater Caucasus , sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains....
. The largest fault within the plate boundary zone is the west-east trending Bitlis frontal thrust and the 1975 earthquake is thought to have been caused by movement on this structure.
Damage
The main area of damage was located near the towns of Hani, Lice and Kulp. In Lice 12 out of the 13 mahalleMahalle
Mahalle is an Arabic word, adopted into Turkish which is variously translated as district, quarter, ward, or "neighborhood." It is an official administrative unit in many Middle Eastern countries. In the Ottoman Empire the mahalle was the smallest administrative entity...
s (sections) of the town were completely destroyed. 6 schools, 6 mosques and 132 commercial buildings were damaged. In the 188 villages surrounding Lice that were affected, 5,555 houses suffered either severe damage or total destruction.
Characteristics
The earthquake occurred near midday without any warning. The shaking continued for about 20–24 seconds. The mainshock was followed by aftershockAftershock
An aftershock is a smaller earthquake that occurs after a previous large earthquake, in the same area of the main shock. If an aftershock is larger than the main shock, the aftershock is redesignated as the main shock and the original main shock is redesignated as a foreshock...
s that continued for more than a month. The focal mechanism
Focal mechanism
The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the inelastic deformation in the source region that generates the seismic waves. In the case of a fault-related event it refers to the orientation of the fault plane that slipped and the slip vector and is also known as a fault-plane solution...
for the earthquake suggests that it was associated with dominantly reverse movement on a fault plane dipping at 45° to the northwest with a significant sinistral (left lateral) component.
National
A total of 15,000 Turkish soldiers were involved in rescue and relief work, with the first personnel arriving just 3 hours after the earthquake. The government set aside a total of 34 million dollars for repair and reconstruction.International
Financial assistance from the international community, from both government and private sources reached a total of $14,837,058. The largest government contribution was from Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. Aid in the form of food and some other supplies from foreign agencies were treated with suspicion with much unfamiliar tinned food being sold for animal feed.