On Wednesday Afternoon a Shallow M4.7 Earthquake struck near Adana in Türkiye.

Written by Earthquakelist.org on August 16th, 2023. Last updated October 15th, 2023.

Under land 73 kilometer from Adana in Türkiye, a shallow M4.7 earthquake occurred in the late afternoon of Wednesday August 16th, 2023. Syria is also near its epicenter.

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Earthquake Summary

The earthquake struck on land in Türkiye, 73 kilometer (45 mi) north of Adana. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 10 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Aug 16, 2023 17:37 (Istanbul Time) - Aug 16, 2023 14:37 Universal Time.
Location:	73 km north of Adana, Türkiye. Coordinates 37°38'15"N 35°25'20"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 4.7 Detected by 116 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.051 .
Depth:	10 km (6 mi) A very shallow depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Tsunami very unlikely While this was a shallow earthquake, it appears to have occurred under land with a magnitude not strong enough to cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

Türkiye and Syria are both located within 300km distance of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Located 40 kilometer (25 mi) west-northwest of the epicenter of this earthquake, Kozan (Adana, Türkiye) is the nearest significant population center.

Multiple major population centers exist within 300km of the earthquake that struck today. Adana is located 73 km to the south. Aleppo is located 222 km to the south-east. Gaziantep is located 185 km to the east-southeast.

An overview of nearby towns and cities is available in the overview below.

Overview of nearby places

5 Aftershocks detected

Since this main shock, 5 smaller aftershocks were detected. Just 16 hrs after this main shock, an earthquake measuring MAG-3.4 was detected 90 km (56 mi) east-northeast of this earthquake.

In the days before this main shock, 2 smaller foreshocks were detected. Nearby this earthquake a foreshock struck 21 hrs earlier. It measured a magnitude of 2.6

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

Aftershocks are usually at least 1 order of magnitude less strong than main shocks. The more time passes, the smaller the chance and likely strength of any potential aftershocks.

It's always adviced to be cautious of the risk of a larger shock following any significant earthquake, however this risk is fairly small. There is a roughly 94 percent change that no larger main shock will follow in the days following this earthquake.

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since August 10th, 2023, when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit 255 km (159 mi) further east-northeast. An even stronger magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck on February 6th, 2023.

In total, 92 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.7 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every month.

Tsunami very unlikely

While MAG-6.5+ earthquakes may cause tsunami's, it appears that the epicenter of this earthquake hit under land. In addition, the reported depth is deeper than 100km, making the risk of a tsunami even less likely. However always stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Sources

Last updated 15/10/23 10:57 (). This article contains currently available information about the earthquake and is automatically composed. We continue to update this article up to a few days after the earthquake occurred.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us7000knrn
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20230816_0000130
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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