Tue. Mar 19th, 2024
Men search for people among the debris in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful quake has knocked down multiple buildings in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck near a Turkish town of Nurdagi in Gaziantep province around 04:17 local time (or 01:17 GMT), being included as one of the largest tremors ever recorded in the Turkish mainland.

Sadly, it came during early hours of the day and hence, many souls got crushed and tumbled inside the Earth’s layers, taking the death toll to cross 5000 in a single day of the mishap.

World Health Organization (WHO) is suspecting these numbers to rise at least eight-fold, as told to BBC: “We always see the same thing with earthquakes, unfortunately, which is that the initial reports of the numbers of people who have died or who have been injured will increase quite significantly in the week that follows”.

Why did the earthquake prove deadly for Turkey?

Earthquake for Turkey is nothing new as it stands on one of the world’s most active seismic zones i.e., crossroads of three tectonic plates — the Anatolian, Arabian and African plates.

It experienced a deadly quake way back in 1999 where more than 17,000 lives were lost in the country’s north-west. Another was in 1939 that gobbled up a massive 33,000 human population in its far-eastern Erzincan province.

Since age, the Arabian plate has been moving northward with an annual speed of about 11 millimeters or just a half inch, causing Turkey to squeeze to its west along with the Anatolian plate.

This intended movement of the tectonic plates provides in necessary stress that breaks a few surface rocks in brittle response to this and hence, a fault gets formed.

Turkey has two such major faults from where its earthquakes originate:

The North Anatolian Fault: 930 miles in length

The East Anatolian Fault: 300 miles in length

Most frequent of the Turkey’s quakes have originated on its infamous northern fault that also lies closer to populous Istanbul.

However, this particular earthquake has hit along the lesser-tremor harboring East Anatolia fault zone, specifically a strike-slip fault that forms as a fracture in the Earth’s crust with its rocks sliding close to each other horizontally.

What has made it all a lot more difficult now? Of course, the magnitude is a thing to blame but also the fact that it had an extreme proximity to the surface i.e., just 11 miles aways from where people live.

“It’s absolutely pouring with rain which is hampering the rescue efforts. There is no power at all in the city tonight”, explains a rescuer, about how difficult it has been to find any possible survivor combing throughout the rubble combined with freezing and snowy weather conditions.

“We need help. We need the international community to do something, to help us, to support us. North-western Syria is now a disaster area.”

Countries from every part of the world are sending disaster management support in the form of specialist on-ground teams, sniffer dogs to trace lives, first aid and tools for survival.

Until now, more than 70 aftershocks and alleged independent earthquakes have shaken Turkey and nearby areas like conflict-ridden Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus.

“We’re still feeling regular after-shocks… and there are still concerns that there may be still more buildings to collapse”.

Another high intensity tremor struck closer to 1 p.m. local time that got termed as a “doublet” earthquake, possessing a similar magnitude and a location close to the original.

UN Secretary General António Guterres has requested a global response to this dire condition crisis, specifically “the need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge”.

How much can the largest possible earthquake be?

The strongest ever earthquake recorded in the world touched 9.5 magnitude on the scale and was named Valdivia earthquake based on the city affected.

For every unit it goes up, the ground motion increases 10 times and the energy released goes up 32 times.

As per geoscientists, the intensity of quakes can get bigger but the chances remain low because an enormous tremor would also require an enormous amount of crust to crumble that too in one go.

“It’s great for Hollywood, but it’s not realistic for the Earth, thank goodness”.

The intensity of this process also depends on the depth (maximum depth seen is 500 miles below the surface), inclination of the fault (the ones at oblique angles are fierce as compared to the ones vertical), texture of the soil to a certain extent etc.

It has been found that the world’s deepest faults lie close to the subduction zones where two tectonic plates collide only to push one under the other.

With internal temperature and pressure at work, the plate going under the other bends instead of breaking. The deeper the quakes occur, lesser is the amount of shaking on the surface.

Therefore, the ones generating in few tens of kilometers of the crust cause more comparative devastation.

However, it is not the size of an earthquake that renders it a catastrophic character. At times, even smaller quakes have led to many deaths, based on the vulnerability zone, population density in the affected area and non-resilient constructions.

In 2010 Haiti, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude took 220,000 lives approximately.

With increased warming of the planet, there might be indirect impact on earthquakes and it is high time that we give necessary importance to preparedness, mitigation and adaptation.

Build back better’ shall be the motto for saving lives and providing them basic alternatives to restart and cope up from what’s lost.

By Alaina Ali Beg

I am a lover of all arts and therefore can dream myself in all places where the World takes me. I am an avid animal lover and firmly believes that Nature is the true sorcerer.

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