Turkey and Syria woke up - at dawn today, Monday - to a devastating earthquake that struck several provinces in the south of Turkey and the north of Syria, and with the dawning of the first clues of dawn, it became clear that the scale of the destruction was great, amid an escalation in the number of dead and wounded in the two countries, while hundreds of families are still under the rubble.

Seismologists described what happened as the largest earthquake in the history of the region for decades, and only the 1939 earthquake in northeastern Turkey came close to it, which caused great damage.

It is not expected that the full picture of the human and material losses will become clear soon, due to the strength of the earthquake and the widening of its geographical circle (10 Turkish states and a number of Syrian governorates), as it was felt by residents in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Greece, Cyprus, Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, and some regions in Egypt.

Turkey is among the countries most prone to earthquakes in the world, and it is the intersection of a number of major geological fault lines, which leads to the occurrence of small earthquakes continuously and closely, as well as large earthquakes that cause deaths and injuries, and cause massive damage to the infrastructure.

This earthquake is the largest in Turkey since the August 1999 earthquake, which killed 17,000 people, and brings to mind a series of devastating earthquakes that struck the region in recent decades.

Aleppo is at the forefront of destruction

The earthquake that struck the city of Aleppo in Syria in 1138 is the fourth most dangerous earthquake to hit the globe in history, and the third deadliest and most destructive earthquake. Recent studies have estimated its intensity at 8.5 degrees on the Richter scale.

More than 230,000 people were killed in this devastating earthquake, while no information is available about the area destroyed or the number of injured.

In the year 856 AD, the Daghman region in northern Iran witnessed one of the most prominent earthquakes in history, which killed 200,000 people, and had a magnitude of 7.9, according to expectations, making it the most fatal earthquake in the country's history.

In the year 893, the city of Ardabil in northern Iran witnessed an earthquake whose magnitude was unknown, but it killed more than 150,000 people, according to expectations.

Rescue teams search for survivors after the 2011 earthquake in Turkey (Shutterstock)

During the past decades, the region witnessed a number of earthquakes that caused widespread death and destruction in the region, the most prominent of which are the following:

In Turkey, the Izmit region, southeast of Istanbul, witnessed, at dawn on August 17, 1999, an earthquake that killed more than 17,000 people and injured more than 23,000 others, in addition to the destruction of about 300,000 homes and 43,000 workplaces.

About 20 million people were affected by it, and it was considered the strongest earthquake that Turkey had experienced since 1939.

On October 23, 2011, more than 600 people were killed and 4,150 injured in a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Van Province in eastern Turkey.

The deadliest earthquakes in Iran

In addition to the earthquakes that Turkey and Syria witnessed, Iran is considered a historically well-known earthquake zone, and throughout its history it has witnessed a greater number of devastating earthquakes, including:

The 1972 earthquake, which occurred in Fars Governorate, in the south of the country, on April 10, 1972, with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale, killing 5,374 people.

One of the earthquakes that occurred in Iran (Reuters)

On September 16, 1978, a devastating earthquake struck eastern Iran, with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale, killing 25,000 people, including 15,000 in the city of Tabas alone, which was completely destroyed.

On June 11, 1981, an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck Kerman province, in the southeast of the country, killing 1,027 people.

On June 21, 1990, a violent earthquake struck the city of Rudbar in the north of the country, with a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale, killing 35,000 people and injuring about 60,000 others.

On May 10, 1997: An earthquake struck the city of Birjand, in the east of the country, with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale, killing 1,560 people.

On June 22, 2002: An earthquake struck the northern province of Qazvin, with a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale, killing 229 people.

And in 2003, one of the most violent earthquakes in the history of the country occurred, in the historic city of Bam, in southeastern Iran, with a magnitude of 6.6 degrees, killing 26,000 people.

A bulldozer digs a mass grave for some of the victims of the Bam earthquake in Iran in 2003 (Reuters)

earthquakes in other countries

In addition to the earthquakes in Turkey, Iran and Syria, earthquakes in other countries in the region resulted in great human and material losses, including:

The earthquake in the city of Dhamar in northern Yemen on December 13, 1982, with a magnitude of 6.0, killed 2,800 people and injured about 1,500 others.

– The 1992 earthquake, which occurred near the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on October 12, 1992, and, according to local media, caused the death of 545 people, the injury of 6,512 others, and the displacement of about 50,000 people, and it was considered one of the strongest natural disasters in Egypt’s modern history.

– The Boumerdes earthquake in northern Algeria, which occurred on May 21, 2003, with a magnitude of 7.3, and resulted in more than two thousand deaths and nearly 12,000 wounded, in addition to the displacement of about 170,000 citizens, in addition to the large material losses.

– The Moroccan Al-Hoceima earthquake, which occurred on February 24, 2004, killing about 600 people, injuring hundreds of others, and leaving great material losses, and it was considered one of the strongest natural disasters that Morocco witnessed.