Why were the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria so devastating?

A combination of factors led to high mortality earthquake who shook at dawn on a Monday at Turkey And Syria.

At least 2,300 people have died in the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the border between the two countries, and the balance has grown over time.

The location, the time it happened, the distant background, and some lax building security help explain this balance.

It was the strongest earthquake in Turkey since 1939 and hit the village.

This happened at dawn, at 04:17 (01:17 GMT), which surprised the sleeping population. According to Roger Musson, a British Geological Survey researcher, the vast majority of the victims “were trapped when their homes collapsed.”

Construction methods were “not entirely suited to an area prone to large earthquakes”, the expert explained.

The fault line where the seismic movement occurred has been relatively quiet recently.

Turkey It is one of the most seismically active regions in the world. An earthquake in the Düzce region ((north) in 1999 caused the death of more than 17 thousand people.

This time the earthquake occurred at the other end of the country, in the so-called East Anatolian fault.

This region has not had an earthquake greater than magnitude 7 for more than 200 years. Probably for this reason, its inhabitants “were negligent,” Musson explained.

And because of this long period of relative calm, the thickness of the fault “was growing,” Musson explained.

He added that 7.5 hours later, another earthquake of magnitude 7.5 struck the region, confirming the accumulation of a large amount of energy that needed to be released.

Repetition of the 1822 earthquake

On August 13, 1822, in the same area, an “almost equal” blow was delivered from earthquake which reached a magnitude of 7.4.

It caused “tremendous damage: cities were completely destroyed, tens of thousands of people were affected,” Musson said.

Aftershocks continued until June next year, he said.

In addition, the epicenter earthquake This Monday, it was relatively shallow, only 17.9 kilometers, and was located in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, where about two million people live.

The Arabian tectonic plate has moved north. “Having no place, it collides” with the Anatolian plate. This friction spreads throughout the fault, explains this expert.

In this case, it is not so much the epicenter that is important, but the extent of the telluric movement per 100 km.

“This means that within 100 km along the fault, everyone suffers from the consequences of shocks,” he added.

weakened infrastructure

AND earthquakes they are also unpredictable, says Carmen Solana, a volcanologist at the University of Portsmouth in the UK.

“In the south of Turkey and especially in Syriatherefore, saving lives is now a priority, ”the expert recalled.

Turkey passed a law in 2004 to tighten building criteria after the 1999 earthquake.

IN Syria, because of the war, the situation is probably worse. “Many of the buildings had already been weakened by a decade of war,” recalls Bill McGuire, a volcanologist at University College London. (AFP)