Turkey and Syria were hit by one of the strongest earthquakes in memory in the area, one of the strongest seismic events in the world. More than a thousand people died, at least 912 in Turkey and 473 in Syria, many in their sleep, in the two countries in the magnitude 7.8 earthquake, the largest in a century.

Another second earthquake of magnitude 7.5 shook Turkey again. According to the SMC, “the earthquake has a magnitude of Mw=7.7-7.8 and occurred in the so-called East Anatolian Fault (EAF). As for the damage, I can’t say much yet, but no doubt the number of casualties will be high. Buildings are completely destroyed. There, as happened in Izmit, the vulnerability of buildings and their seismic resistance play a decisive role in the damage.

According to the Institute of Geosciences, “the distance between the two events and their very large magnitude (they are almost the same) rule out the possibility that this is an aftershock.” Thousands of victims are expected.

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