“TWO CITIES WERE SHOCKED BY A SIMILAR FAULT TYPE 12 YEARS AGAINST”
Emphasizing the similarity between Van and Marrakesh, Prof. Dr. Sözbilir said, “644 lives were lost in the Van earthquake. Although they are 5 thousand kilometers away from each other, the cities of Morocco and Van were shaken at different times, with a similar geological environment and similar fault type, with a similar earthquake magnitude of around 7, 12 years apart.
These earthquakes were felt with a magnitude of 8-9 in both cities with a population of approximately 1 million. The loss of life and property in the Van earthquake was relatively low; “It shows that Van’s building stock is in a better condition than Marrakech,” he said.
“THERE ARE NEARLY 30 FAULT SEGMENTS”
Pointing out that there are nearly 30 fault segments in the ‘Southeastern Anatolian Thrust’, Prof. Dr. Sözbilir said, “This fault type, which is observed only in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions of Turkey, is known as the ‘Southeastern Anatolian Thrust’.
The ‘Southeast Anatolian Thrust’, which starts from the Eastern Anatolian Fault that produced the February 6 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, extends in the east-west direction until Adıyaman-Bingöl-Diyarbakır-Batman-Siirt-Şırnak-Van-Hakkari and Yüksekova-Şemdinli. “There are nearly 30 fault segments within this thrust zone that have the potential to produce earthquakes of up to 6.3 to 7.2 magnitudes,” he said.