Talk:2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes

Title and despriction
The epicenter of the Kahramanmaras earthquake of February 6 was within the borders of west–northwest of Gaziantep, that is, Turkey. The fact that it also affected Syria does not mean that the earthquake took place in Syria. For example, 2008 Sichuan earthquake also affected Tayland, but it is not called a China-Tayland earthquake because its epicenter is in a town within the borders of China. I think the title should be changed to Gaziantep, Turkey earthquake. Zyzyyz (talk) 10:24, 29 August 2023 (UTC)


 * There has been quite a lot of discussion about the title in the past. There are now at least 51 scientific papers that talk about the earthquake(s) to some degree. Of these 8 refer to the earthquake(s) as a doublet, 17 as "earthquakes", 14 as an "earthquake", 8 as an "earthquake sequence", with 4 only mentioning the event(s) in passing. In total then, 33 of the papers refer to earthquakes plural and 14 as singular. Only one of the 51 mentions Gaziantep, with the most common descriptor (22) being "Turkey", followed by 12 as "Kahramanmaraş" and 11 as "Turkey-Syria", with 5 other descriptors. The OCHA use "Turkiye/Syria: Earthquakes". International news stories in the last two months use a mixture - Al Jazeera "Turkey-Syria earthquake", The Guardian "Turkey withdraws as host of Cop16, blaming February’s earthquakes", CNN "Ashley Judd describes conditions six months after devastating earthquake hit Turkey and Syria". In conclusion, the majority of sources use earthquakes in the plural, hardly any use Gaziantep, Turkey-Syria is quite commonly used but not as much as Kahramanmaraş or just Turkey. We should probably revisit the discussion as to whether we should change to "2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes", but not to your suggestion I think. Mikenorton (talk) 23:38, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * The earthquakes happaned “Kahramanmaraş/Pazarcık” (7.8mg) and “Kahramanmaraş/Ekinözü/Elbistan” (7.6mg) provinces, not Gaziantep, not syria. Gaziantep and other places effected by the earthquakes hardly. Both Turkish state officials and universities are approve epicenter by Kahramanmaraş province.Please fix this the page’s title because of wrong informing. 176.90.200.5 (talk) 14:37, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is for a global audience, not Turkish viewers. The title is for searchability and awareness within the global context. An earthquake's epicenter is not its only defining characteristic, definitely not for this historic event. This event sparked an international humanitarian crisis; the article covers aspects of its impact outside of Turkey. Removing Syria from the title which appears to be your suggestion gives an unfair and undue weight and is a misrepresentation of the topic.

Wikipedia does not appeal only to Turkish viewers hence I see no reason why the title should be changed now. Dora the Axe-plorer (explore) 14:52, 7 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I understand very well. İn that case, the title should be commutative. But if you are insistent about the title, you must change epicenter info. the article contains wrong information about epicenter. Kahramanmaraş earthquakes happend Kahramanmaraş province, not Gaziantep. At least fix this the wrong infor 178.247.113.107 (talk) 16:24, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Because of your article contains wrong information. Your viewers (not Turkish) learn wrong data. Please, exploration the “historical earthquakes” event and then write correct sentence. 178.247.113.107 (talk) 16:54, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
 * You know nothing John Snow 😂 176.88.122.46 (talk) 19:09, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
 * With that f**k*ss attitude, don't expect any Wikipedians to attend to whatever queries or request you raise, however valid it is.
 * Dora the Axe-plorer (explore) 22:06, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

Deadliest natural disaster in modern history?
Why does the article state, that it is the deadliest natural disaster in modern history? 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami? 130.225.188.128 (talk) 08:58, 11 September 2023 (UTC)


 * The full sentence reads: "It is the deadliest earthquake in what is now present-day Turkey since the 526 Antioch earthquake and the deadliest natural disaster in its modern history." It refers to Turkey's modern history so there's no issue with the sentence. Dora the Axe-plorer (explore) 09:05, 11 September 2023 (UTC)

Requested move 20 September 2023

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. (closed by non-admin page mover)  ❯❯❯  Raydann  (Talk)   20:27, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake → 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes – Since this was last discussed, a large number of scientific publications have appeared (currently 61 in number - they can be viewed by clicking on the isc link in the infobox) and the majority (>70%) of these refer to (in order of use) "earthquakes", "earthquake doublet" or "earthquake sequence" in the title with less than a quarter (23%) using "earthquake". Based on this there is enough evidence to support a change to "earthquakes" in the title as proposed per WP:COMMONNAME Mikenorton (talk) 20:02, 20 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment: To make it easier, here is the link being referred to at washington.edu. --Super Goku V (talk) 06:05, 21 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Support: even though I did not notice the first one Chidgk1 (talk) 08:36, 22 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Support - Should’ve never been named as a singular earthquake anyway. Both earthquakes are separate technically and in terms of impacts and on the media it is named plurally. It’s a good call to rename it to ‘earthquakes’ instead of ‘earthquake’. ' Reego 41 ' 18:01, 22 September 2023 (UTC)
 * There was too many sources at the time calling it a single earthquake which was the problem. That and the fact that the article had already been edited over 350 times prior to the 7.7 earthquake.  Kinda hard to call it earthquakes before the second one hits.  --Super Goku V (talk) 09:06, 23 September 2023 (UTC)
 * At the time great emphasis was placed on the USGS referring to the second earthquake as an aftershock. I note that they now refer to the two largest shocks as the "M 7.8 - Pazarcik earthquake, Kahramanmaras earthquake sequence" and the "M 7.5 - Elbistan earthquake, Kahramanmaras earthquake sequence". Mikenorton (talk) 10:24, 23 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Neutral: I'm fine with it staying as "earthquake", but I can agree and understand it being "earthquakes" instead. Quake1234 (talk) 13:30, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Support per above. Aintabli (talk) 20:03, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

Recent death toll by AFP citing Turkish officials
A new article by AFP citing Turkey officials said the total death toll is 59,488 including 53,537 in Turkey.

The article then says the number of deaths in Syria is 4,537 in rebel-held areas and 1,414 in government-held areas.

Currently the Wikipedia article states 8,476 deaths in Syria according to IBC published in April 2023. SOHR puts the total toll at 6,795; 4,547 in rebel-held area and 2,248 in government-held area.

Considering the humanitarian crisis in Syria prior to the earthquake, the death toll discrepancy is not a huge surprise. However I want to know how should Wikipedia go around this. Should we provide a range for the death toll in Syria or follow the latest AFP article? Dora the Axe-plorer (explore) 13:04, 2 February 2024 (UTC)