Zardnaar
Deity
Not looking good hope r16 and family are ok.
r16 can only pm at the moment.
The Arabian plate is plowing northward at a rate of about 11 millimeters (just under a half-inch) per year, said Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at University College London. Turkey, which sits on the Anatolian plate, is therefore being squeezed westward.
That movement means Turkey has two major faults where earthquakes originate: the 930-mile-long North Anatolian fault and the more than 300-mile-long East Anatolian fault. Many of Turkey’s largest quakes originate on the northern fault, and it has gained the most attention because of the potential for a major quake near the population center of Istanbul.
But this one is thought to have struck along the East Anatolia fault zone — which has been flying a bit under the radar, with no earthquakes greater than magnitude 7 “at least since our seismological monitoring network has been in place — the 1900s,” Hicks said. The lack of recent large earthquakes in the last century along that fault, combined with the northward movement of the Arabian plate, suggest there was pent-up strain in the region, he said.
In this case, the quake happened at what’s known as a strike-slip fault, a fracture in the Earth’s crust where the rocks slide past each other horizontally when they break.
Why was this quake so deadly?
The grim death toll is a result of several factors: the sheer size of the quake; the fact that it struck relatively close to the surface; and its proximity to where people live. Monday’s quake originated just about 11 miles below the surface. That means the seismic waves did not have to travel far before they reached buildings and people on the surface, leading to more intense shaking.
[Image text won't copy]
Aftershocks above 5-magnitude as of 7.30 am Eastern. The aftershocks from this quake have also been large — and are expected to continue, Altaweel said.
“So far, we’ve got about 40 aftershocks,” Altaweel said. “What caught the attention of the media is the big ones,” but the aftershocks can also be destructive.
Would better building codes have helped?
The U.S. Geological Survey warned in its report about this event that “the population in this region resides in structures that are extremely vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though some resistant structures exist.”
The USGS highlighted buildings that use unreinforced brick masonry and low-rise concrete frames to be at greatest risk. These materials are too stiff to sway with the shaking and are more likely to buckle, leading to catastrophic collapses.
While better building codes can help, the shallow 7.8-magnitude earthquake caused very intense shaking in a region within Turkey that, unlike the north, had not routinely experienced such large temblors.
“In the southeastern part of Turkey, they hadn’t felt a strong earthquake in most people’s lifetimes,” Hicks said.
What are past examples of notable quakes in this region?
Monday’s event is thought to be the largest quake to occur anywhere in Turkey since 1939, when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck in the northeastern part of the country. In March 1970, a destructive 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit western Turkey, killing more than 1,000 people and destroying more than 8,000 buildings.
And in August 1999, a devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake shook northwestern Turkey, causing more than 17,000 deaths and displacing more than 250,000 people. It was followed by another 7.2 earthquake a few months later that killed more than 800 people. A 6.7-magnitude earthquake also struck eastern Turkey on Jan. 24, 2020.
They sit between multiple platesAmazing the number of earthquakes Turkey has experienced over the last quarter century.
thanks to all those who have wished well .
my maps and stuff are all old , 20 years or so but poring over them and tables of distances between towns and whatnot , ı think it is just above a thousand kilometers to the epicenter of the first shock .
inevitably my comments will be elsewhere . In full r16 style . To avoid a certain sourness that might arise here ...