Why was the earthquake in Turkey and Syria so devastating?

A combination of factors led to the high mortality from the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria early Monday.

At least 2,300 people died in the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the border between the two countries, a balance that was growing as the hours passed.

The location, the time it occurred, the distant background and some lax security measures at the time of construction help explain this balance.

It was the strongest earthquake to hit Turkey since 1939, hitting a populated region.

It happened at dawn, at 04:17 (01:17 GMT), which is why it surprised the population sleeping. The vast majority of the victims “were trapped when their houses collapsed,” explained Roger Musson, a researcher with the British Geological Survey to AFP.

The construction methodsthey were not really suitable for an area prone to large earthquakes”, explained this expert.

The fracture line where the seismic movement occurred has been relatively calm in recent times.

Turkey is one of the most active seismic regions in the world. An earthquake in the Duzce region ((north), in 1999, caused more than 17,000 deaths.

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This time the quake struck at the other end of the country, on what is known as the East Anatolian fault.

This region had not experienced an earthquake greater than magnitude 7 in more than 200 years. Probably for this reason, its inhabitantsthey were negligentMusson explained.

And because of that long period of relative quiet, the power of the fault “it was accumulatingMusson explained.

The region suffered another 7.5-magnitude tremor 7.5 hours later, which would confirm that a lot of power had been built up that needed to be released, he added.

Repeat of the 1822 earthquake

On August 13, 1822, this same area suffered a coup “almost equal”, with an earthquake that reached a magnitude of 7.4.

It caused “enormous damage, with cities completely in ruins and tens of thousands of casualties,” Musson said.

The aftershocks lasted until June of the following year, he explained.

In addition, the epicenter of the earthquake on Monday was relatively shallow, just 17.9 kilometers, and was located in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, where some two million people live.

The Arabian tectonic plate moved north. “Not having space, it crashes” with the Anatolian plate. This rubbing reverberates throughout the entire fault, explains this expert.

The epicenter is not as important in this case as the extension of the telluric movement, along 100 km.

“That means that within that 100 km margin along the fault, all” suffers the consequences of the tremor, he added.

Infrastructure

And besides, you can’t predict earthquakes, said Carmen Solana, a volcanologist at the University of Portsmouth in Britain.

“The adapted infrastructures are scarce in the south of Turkey and especially in Syria, so now the priority is to save lives”, recalled this expert.

Turkey had passed legislation in 2004 to strengthen construction criteria, after the 1999 earthquake.

In Syria, because of the war, the situation is probably worse. “Many structures had already been weakened by a decade of warrecalled Bill McGuire, a volcanologist at University College London.

AFP Source

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