The earthquake in Turkey had a magnitude of 7.8. It was the strongest earthquake in Turkey in more than 80 years. The second earthquake, detected on Monday afternoon, was also remarkably large.
15:31•Updated 16:30
Monday morning’s earthquake is the strongest earthquake to have occurred in Turkey in decades, says the director of the science and innovations unit of Geological Survey GTK Saku Vuori.
A strong earthquake struck the southern part of Turkey early Monday morning, and by Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., nearly 2,000 people had died in Turkey and Syria.
Turkey is located at the junction of four continental plates, i.e. the Anatolian, African, Arabian and Eurasian plates, so earthquakes often occur there. Monday’s earthquake occurred at the junction of the Arabian and Eurasian plates.
– There (near Turkey’s southern border) there is a zone running in the northeast-southwest direction where earthquakes have happened before, says Vuori.
According to the USGS, the magnitude of the morning earthquake was 7.8. The last such strong earthquake occurred in Turkey in 1939.
– Yes, in that sense, this is quite a remarkable event, says Vuori.
Later on Monday, another earthquake was also detected in the area, which according to the USGS had a magnitude of 7.5. According to Vuori, aftershocks are common, but they are usually smaller than the first.
Aftershocks can continue for days or even weeks, but they are usually smaller than one another, says Vuori.
The tremor was detected hundreds of kilometers away
An average of 17 earthquakes of magnitude 7–7.9 occur in the world per year. Such earthquakes are very powerful and cause severe damage over a wide area.
According to Vuori, the extent of the damage is influenced by, among other things, the type of bedrock in the earthquake area and how well the foundations of the buildings are built.
– The repair work will probably take months, Vuori states.
The earthquake has caused deaths not only in Turkey but also in Syria, and its tremors have reportedly been noticed at least in Lebanon and Cyprus. According to Vuori, the earthquake was so big that measuring devices will probably detect it around the globe.
Ambassador of Finland to Turkey Ari Mäki estimates on Radio 1’s Ykkösaamu that there may be individual Finns in the area. The area is not a tourist destination, and the vacation spots favored by Finns are located hundreds of kilometers away from the earthquake area.
– There is no immediate danger in the holiday resorts. There is no reason to panic, says Vuori.
Corrected 6.2. 4:30 p.m.: The joints of four continental plates are located in Turkey, not three, as was erroneously stated earlier in the story. Updated death toll.