European geoscientist: the cause of the great damage is the type of earthquake

Marc De Batist, Head of the Department of Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) and Professor of Geology at the University of Gent, stated that the causes of the large damage caused by the earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş are very severe, near-surface, long-term, as well as the type of fault movement and its effect over a very wide area.

De Batist made statements about the earthquakes that affected 10 provinces of Kahramanmaraş. “The great damage caused by the two earthquakes is mainly due to the fact that they are very, very, very strong earthquakes,” he said of Batist, stressing that this means a lot of energy is released during the tremor.

De Batist noted that the first earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 was one of the 1-2 strongest earthquakes in Turkish history, along with the 1939 Erzincan earthquake, and stated that the only earthquake stronger than these was the North Anatolian earthquake of 1668. .

The Belgian expert noted that the second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 was in the top 11 among the largest earthquakes in Turkey’s history.

‘SHALLOW EARTHQUAKE SOURCE’

De Batist continued:

“A second reason why there is so much damage is that the source of the earthquake, that is, the center of the focus, is shallow. The first earthquake occurred at 17 kilometers and the second with a magnitude of 7.6 occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers. The shallower the earthquake, the stronger the ground shaking. It is the intensity of the tremor combined with the duration of the tremor that causes most of the damage.”

“What made the situation even worse was that the second very strong earthquake hit the same area where buildings had already been damaged in the first earthquake.” De Batista said:

“A third reason why there is so much damage over such a large area is the nature of the fault and the fault movement that caused the earthquake. The two pieces on either side of the rift were moving horizontally relative to each other. This horizontal movement affected a very large area, since large earthquakes usually involve the rupture of large pieces of a fault. The rupture length of the first major earthquake was 360 kilometers.

De Batist pointed out that the crowded housing development in the earthquake area is also one of the factors affecting the destruction. (AA)