Why was the Turkey-Syria earthquake that killed thousands so deadly?

PARIS: A combination of factors made the powerful earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria early Monday particularly deadly, including its timing, location, relatively quiet fault line and the weak construction of the collapsed buildings, experts said. 

More than 2,600 people have been killed by the 7.8-magnitude quake near Turkey's Syrian border, with the toll expected to grow as aftershocks reverberate throughout the day.

The earthquake caused such devastation partly because of its power -- it is the strongest earthquake to hit Turkey since 1939 -- and because it hit a populated region.

Another reason is that it occurred at 04:17 am (0117 GMT), which meant that sleeping people were "trapped when their houses collapsed," Roger Musson, honorary research associate at the British Geological Survey, told AFP.

The construction of buildings was also not "really adequate for an area that's susceptible to large earthquakes," said the author of the book "The Million Death Quake".

That could partly be due to the fact that the fault line on which the earthquake struck has been relatively quiet recently.

Turkey is in one of the world's most active earthquake zones. A quake along the North Anatolian fault line in the northern Turkish region of Duzce killed more than 17,000 people in 1999.

But Monday's earthquake occurred on the other side of the country, along the East Anatolian fault.

The East Anatolian fault has not had a magnitude-7 quake for over two centuries, which could mean people were "neglecting how dangerous" it is, Musson said.

Because it had been so long since the last big quake, "quite a lot of energy" may have built up, Musson theorised.

The strength of the aftershocks on Monday, including a huge 7.5-magnitude tremor, supported this theory, he added. (AIR NEWS)

Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter

• SHARE THIS
• TWEET THIS
• SHARE THIS
• E-mail