Why do severe earthquakes occur in Turkey?

 

The magnitude of the earthquake that occurred in Turkey last night was recorded at 7.9, the epicenter of the earthquake was in Nardagi area of ​​Gazi Antap province, south of Turkey, while the depth of the earthquake was 17.9 km.

 

According to reports so far, 1541 people have died due to the earthquake in Turkey and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called it the worst earthquake since 1939.

 

Previously, Turkey has faced the worst earthquake in 1939 when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Erzincan province and killed 33,000 people, injuring thousands of people.

 

After that, Turkey experienced another severe earthquake in 1999 with a magnitude of 7.4 which killed more than 17 thousand people. Hundreds of buildings collapsed due to the earthquake.

 

Why are there so many earthquakes in Turkey?

Turkey is located in one of the most active earthquake zones in the world because many tectonic plates are meeting and moving at this point.

 

Turkey is located on the Anatolian tectonic plate which is surrounded by the Arabian plate, Eurasian plate and African plate and these plates are fully moving and active causing thousands of underground earthquakes every month.

 

Earlier, experts have also expressed the fear of the destruction of the city of Istanbul in a large-scale earthquake in Turkey.

 

According to Western media reports, a Dutch scientist predicted the Turkey earthquake on February 2 and said that a magnitude 7.5 earthquake could occur between February 4 and 6.

 

He said that an earthquake may occur in south-central Turkey, Jordan, Syria or Lebanon. In addition, in December 2022, a scientist had warned of a major earthquake in the same area.