I feel the earth move under my feet: the history of earthquake intensity and magnitude

Near dawn on 6 February 2023, at 4:17 a.m. local time, residents of Pazarcık City in southern Turkey experienced powerful shaking. Witnesses described their experiences of being shaken from their sleep, some running to their cars for safety from the damaged buildings. “I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I’ve lived,” said Erdem, a witness living in Gaziantep. “We were shaken at least three times very strongly, like a baby in a crib (Brewer & Kerley, 2023).” The degree of utter dev