2020年爱琴海地震

An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.0 occurred on 30 October 2020 about 14 km (8.7 mi) northeast of the Greek island of Samos. Although Samos was closest to the epicentre, it was the large Turkish city İzmir, 70 km (43 mi) northeast that was heavily affected—more than 700 residential and commercial structures were seriously damaged or destroyed. One hundred and seventeen people died in İzmir Province while an additional 1,034 were injured. In Greece, there were two fatalities and 19 injured. The earthquake is the deadliest in the year 2020, and the third major earthquake to strike Turkey that year. It generated an unusually large tsunami. The event is called the Samos earthquake by the International Seismological Centre.

Tectonic setting

The Aegean Sea is a seismically active region with complex plate tectonics interaction both within and surrounding the Aegean Sea plate. The region has several major plate boundary including the North Anatolian Fault which runs through northern Turkey, where the Anatolian sub-plate slides past the Eurasian plate along this right-lateral strike-slip fault.……

Earthquake

The earthquake was the result of normal faulting at a shallow crustal depth within the Aegean Sea plate in the eastern Aegean Sea, about 250 km (160 mi) north of the closest plate boundary, the Hellenic Trench, where the African plate moves north at a rate of approximately 10 mm (0.39 in)/yr with respect to the Eurasian plate.……

Strong ground motion

The earthquake achieved a peak ground acceleration (pga) of 0.27 g in Samos.……

Foreshocks and aftershocks

The earthquake was preceded by a foreshock sequence consisting of 39 events beginning three months prior to the mainshock.……

Tsunami

Tsunami information was issued by the Kandilli Observatory Earthquake Monitoring and Tsunami Warning Center to the Earthquake Research Department of Turkey approximately 11 minutes after the earthquake, but was not broadcast to the coastal regions. The tsunami arrived between 10 and 15 minutes after the mainshock.

Impact

Overall, minor damage occurred on Samos despite its close proximity to the epicentre. Most of the damage and casualties were from the Bornova and Bayraklı districts of İzmir; located at least 70 km (43 mi) north of the epicentre. On 4 November, the mayor of İzmir, Tunç Soyer, stated that 15,000 people in the city were made homeless.……

Turkey

Initially, Turkish Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu stated that at least six buildings were destroyed in İzmir, but the city's mayor Tunç Soyer later put the number of collapsed buildings closer to 20.……

Relief operations

Immediately after the earthquake, Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca stated that about 40 ambulances, 35 emergency rescue teams and two ambulance helicopters had reached the affected region, while Turkey's Ministry of National Defence stated that one of its planes had departed from Etimesgut Air Base to transport AFAD and gendarmerie teams to the scene.……

Criminal investigation

Following the deadly 1999 İzmit earthquake which killed 17,000 people, Turkey has stepped-up its measures on building codes in respond to earthquakes. These have increased the safety of newer buildings during seismic events. An earthquake tax was established that same year to make infrastructures more resistant to earthquakes.

International reactions

• Countries:
• United States

The US embassy has shared their condolences for the dead and wounded in the earthquake.

Germany – The German embassy in Ankara has shared the following message from Twitter "After the earthquake in Izmir, our thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. Get well soon, Izmir!".

Albania – The Albanian ambassador Kastriot Robo said "Where are with our friends in this hard time".

Memorial

On the first anniversary of the event in 2021, the Çiğli municipality opened a public earthquake memorial to commemorate the event. A memorial service was held at the Hacılarkır Cemetery in the Karşıyaka where most of the victims were laid to rest. Monuments were also erected near the Rıza Bey Apartment which collapsed.