A massive earthquake that occurred early on Monday morning in south-eastern Turkey, close to the Syrian border, left tens of thousands of people dead and countless others injured.
Numerous aftershocks, including one that was nearly as strong as the initial tremor, were immediately felt after the earthquake, which occurred close to the town of Gaziantep.
Why did it prove so fatal?
The first earthquake was significant; its official magnitude was 7.8, which is considered to be “major.” It ruptured along a fault line that was approximately 100 km (62 miles) long, seriously damaging buildings close to the fault.
“Of the deadliest earthquakes in any given year, only two in the last 10 years have been of equal magnitude, and four in the previous 10 years,” said Prof. Joanna Faure Walker, director of the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction at the University College London.
Devastation, however, is brought on by more than just the tremor’s strength.
Early in the morning, while individuals were inside sleeping, this incident took place.
Another element is the buildings’ durability.
Reader in volcanology and risk communication at the University of Portsmouth, Dr. Carmen Solana says: “Sadly, there are gaps in the resistant infrastructure in South Turkey and notably in Syria, thus preserving life now mostly depends on the response.
It’s imperative to find survivors within the next 24 hours. The number of surviving drastically declines after 48 hours.”
The level of readiness would be lower than for a place that was more accustomed to dealing with earthquakes because there hadn’t been a large earthquake in this area in more than 200 years or any warning indicators.
Why did the earthquake happen?
The plates that make up the Earth’s crust are discrete pieces that cling to one another.
These plates frequently try to move but are unable to do so due to friction caused by rubbing against an adjacent plate. However, occasionally the pressure increases to the point that one plate suddenly jerks across, moving the surface.
In this instance, the Arabian plate was drifting north and slamming against the Anatolian plate.
In the past, extremely destructive earthquakes have been caused by plate-boundary friction.
It resulted in an earthquake on August 13, 1822, measuring 7.4 instead of the 7.8 magnitude measured on Monday.
Even yet, the earthquake of the 19th century caused significant damage to nearby communities, with 7,000 fatalities reported in the city of Aleppo alone. Injurious aftershocks persisted for almost a year.
Scientists anticipate the current earthquake, which has already been followed by a number of aftershocks, will follow the same pattern as the previous significant one in the area.
When measuring earthquakes, how?
The Moment Magnitude Scale is used to measure them (Mw). The more well-known Richter scale, which is currently regarded as antiquated and less precise, has been superseded by this.
The magnitude of an earthquake is a combination of the fault line’s displacement’s length and its displacement force.
In most cases, a tremor of 2.5 or less cannot be felt, but it can be picked up by instruments. Up to five quakes can be felt, and they can inflict only moderate harm. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey is categorized as major and typically produces significant damage, as it did in this case.
Anything above 8 causes catastrophic harm and has the power to completely destroy entire communities.
How does this one measure up to other significant earthquakes?
On December 26, 2004, off the coast of Indonesia, one of the greatest earthquakes ever recorded occurred, setting forth a tsunami that wiped out entire communities all around the Indian Ocean.
About 228,000 people were killed by the 9.1-magnitude earthquake.
Another earthquake with a magnitude of 9 struck the Japanese shore in 2011; it left extensive damage on the ground and triggered a tsunami. At the coastal Fukushima nuclear power facility, it resulted in a serious accident.
The biggest earthquake to ever be recorded had a magnitude of 9.5 and occurred in Chile in 1960.
