Diana Darke, author of Bradt’s Eastern Turkey, gives an update on the earthquake situation in Eastern Turkey.
© Diana Darke 21 November 2011
Earthquakes in Eastern Turkey
The Van area of Eastern Turkey was struck by two earthquakes within days of each other, 23 October and 9 November 2011, thought to be separate events rather than a linked aftershock.
The area lies on the Bitlis-Zagros faultline, so is an earthquake-prone zone.The first was a magnitude of 7.2, with its epicentre 16km northeast of Van city, near Ercis. The second was a magnitude of 5.9 with its epicentre 16km south of Van city near Edremit, where the Bayram Hotel collapsed. The death toll for the two earthquakes stands at around 650, with many more injured. The Turkish government has been criticised for the slowness and inadequacy of its response, and has now accepted aid from neighbouring countries, after first declining offers of help. The Turkish Red Crescent is the main organisation involved on the ground. The last earthquake in the Van region was in 1941, the Van-Ercis earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9, that resulted in about 200 deaths. The VAN method of predicting earthquakes is, incidentally, nothing to do with the city of Van - it is simply the acronym from the surname of the three Greek scientists who invented it.
Travel advice
The weather is extremely cold at this time of year, with the first snowfalls already starting, so it is not likely that any tourists would be travelling in Eastern Turkey until about May of 2012, when the snows have receded. However, anyone who is travelling in the Van area would be advised to avoid Edremit, Van and Ercis for the next few weeks. Van airport suffered some damage, but is still functioning, though Erzurum airport is being used for most of the aid supplies. Van Kalesi is very unlikely to have been damaged, since it sits on such a vast rock, and Akdamar church on Akdamar Island in Lake Van is also very unlikely to have been affected - both these sites have survived many earthquakes over the centuries. Neither Ercis nor Edremit are towns with tourist attractions.
The Turkish government has been having one of its regular crackdowns in recent weeks on PKK and Kurdish unrest, with over 150 Kurdish politicians arrested. As a result, the FCO is currently advising against all but essential travel to the provinces of Hakkari, Sirnak, Siirt and Tunceli, regions which most tourists would not go anyway because they do not have any major tourist attractions, and which will be snowcovered until May 2012 in any event. Anyone planning to travel to those areas next spring should check the FCO Turkey travel advice website.