The earthquake that collapsed several buildings in Turkey and Syria during the night happened close to the earth’s surface.
As a result of Monday’s devastating earthquake, thousands of people were trapped under collapsed residential buildings. At least 20 buildings collapsed in Aleppo, Syria. The building stock has been largely beyond repair due to the civil war.
At least 2,818 buildings were destroyed in Turkey due to the earthquake, says the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The effects of the earthquake are in ten provinces of Turkey.
Among the collapsed buildings is a public broadcasting company According to the BBC (you will switch to another service) among others, the more than 2000-year-old Gaziantep Castle. An entire shopping center collapsed in the city of Diyarbakir.
Area of dangerous high vibration
Seismologist Jari Korström tells by phone that the earthquake area is located in densely populated areas. According to Korström, one million people live in the area of dangerous strong vibrations. So there are a lot of potential victims.
On the other hand, the destructiveness has been increased by the fact that the earthquake was very strong and happened low, i.e. close to the earth’s surface.
Korström cites a poor building stock as the third reason for the destruction.
– The building stock during the most destructive earthquakes has not been earthquake resistant.
According to Korström, predicting earthquakes is difficult, and that is why it is impossible to mitigate the destructive effects and disaster.
There are strong earthquakes in the world every year, but not all of them always hit such a densely populated area.
– Earthquakes are known to occur in the area of Turkey, but when and where exactly, as well as their intensity, it is impossible to know in advance.
According to Korström, the possibility of aftershocks in the next couple of days still exists.
– In the course of a couple of days, strong earthquakes can occur, which will worsen the destruction caused by today, says Korström.
– The danger is not over yet.
Turkey is located at the junction of the continental plates, and earthquakes are often experienced there. In 1999, Izmit in the western part of Turkey was shaken by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4. At that time, more than 17,000 people perished.
More than 2,300 people have already been killed in Monday’s earthquakes. The magnitude of the earthquake was measured at 7.8.
During the day, another strong earthquake was detected in Turkey a little further north of the original one.
According to official data, more than 800 people have died in the earthquake in Syria and more than 2,300 have been injured.
According to the Turkish authorities, 1,498 people have died and 7,600 have been injured in the country. It is believed that the number of victims will still rise.
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