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The Operational Service of Aristotle-Eenhsp for the February 6, 2023 Earthquakes in Turkey-Syria

The ARISTOTLE-eENHSP is a service funded by DG ECHO (Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection) of the European Union that provides the European Union Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) with a multi-hazard expert assessment for emergencies triggered by natural hazards. Its prototype started in 2016 and it currently benefits from the collaboration of 24 institutions from 15 countries based in Europe. Emergencies currently covered are those from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, forest fires, severe weather and flooding. The service is provided 7/24H for any relevant event forecasted or that has occurred worldwide providing reports and verbal interaction within three hours since the activation from ERCC. The final goal is to support the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism in the decision-making when supporting a specific country just affected by a catastrophic natural event. The service is complemented by routine update reports and briefings provided three times a week describing the crisis situation.
On February 6, 2023, ARISTOTLE was activated twice in consequence of the Mw7.8 and of the Mw7.5 earthquakes that occurred at 01:17 UTC and 10:24 UTC, generating very significant losses in Turkey and Syria. The Mw7.8 earthquake marked the first time that the ARISTOTLE system had responded to such a major and impactful event, which also triggered a basin-wide tsunami alert for the Mediterranean Sea. We will present the results obtained by the Earthquake and the Tsunami Hazard Groups of ARISTOTLE and discuss the complexity of assessing the main characteristics of the earthquakes, their impact and the provision of realistic scenarios within three hours from the event occurrence. The expert analysis is based on rapidly available event-specific information (e.g., shakemaps, PAGER), historical earthquakes, weather forecast in the region, tsunami potential, population, infrastructures and buildings exposure. Our experience shows that ready provision of scientific knowledge is crucial to respond more quantitatively to the needs of disaster risk managers in the immediate post-earthquake emergency phase.

Session: February 2023 Mw 7.8 Earthquake Sequence in Turkey [Poster]

Type: Poster

Room: Ballroom

Date: 4/19/2023

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Alberto Michelini

Student Presenter: No

Additional Authors