Seismologists said the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that slammed Turkey and Syria on Monday, with a breach of more than 100 km (62 miles) between the Anatolian and Arabian plates, is likely to be one of the worst this decade.
According to scientists, the following occurred beneath the earth’s surface, along with what to anticipate in the aftermath:
From where did the earthquake come?
At a depth of roughly 18 km on the East Anatolian Fault, the epicentre was located about 26 kilometres to the east of the Turkish city of Nurdagi. The earthquake’s northeastern radiation devastated central Turkey and Syria.
The East Anatolian Fault produced little significant seismic activity in the 20th century. According to Roger Musson, an honorary research fellow at the British Geological Survey, “it would seem more or less blank if we were going only by (large) earthquakes that were recorded by seismometers.”
According to the US Geological Survey, there have only been three earthquakes in the region that have registered above 6.0 on the Richter Scale since 1970. But a 7.0 earthquake that struck the area in 1822 is thought to have killed 20,000 people.
