4 earthquakes occur every hour in Turkey! Which province shook the most?

Disaster Management Expert Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bülent Özmen, who works at the Gazi University Faculty of Engineering, made notable statements regarding the earthquake activity Turkey experienced in the first 6 months of the year. According to Assoc. Prof. Özmen, a total of 18 thousand 191 earthquakes have occurred since the beginning of this year. He highlighted the intensity of the number of earthquakes by stating, "This means 4 earthquakes occur every hour and 100 every day."

Touching upon Turkey's seismic structure, Özmen stated that there are nearly a thousand "active faults with the potential to produce earthquakes" across the country, including land and sea areas. He also stated that an average of 25 thousand natural disasters are recorded annually.

SANTORINI EFFECT AND ISTANBUL EARTHQUAKE INCREASED SEISMIC ACTIVITY

The earthquake swarm experienced around the islands of Santorini and Amorgos off the coast of Greece in January and February stood out as one of the main factors in the increase in the number of earthquakes. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özmen also said that the 6.2 magnitude earthquake felt in Istanbul on April 23 significantly increased seismic activity.

MOST EARTHQUAKES RECORDED IN MUĞLA

According to statistics, the province where the most tremors were recorded in the first half of the year was Muğla. Muğla was followed by Malatya, Kütahya, Kahramanmaraş, and Istanbul, respectively. When looking at the distribution of earthquakes by month, it was shared that "the most intense tremors were experienced in February and April."

Assoc. Prof. Özmen summarized the earthquakes that occurred during the year according to their magnitudes as follows:

"There were 206 earthquakes with a magnitude between 4 and 4.9, 18 earthquakes with a magnitude between 5 and 5.9, and 3 earthquakes greater than 6. The most important of these were the earthquakes that occurred in Istanbul, then Kulu-Konya, and later off the coast of Marmaris Bozburun."

ACTIVITY IN THE MARMARA REGION

The consecutive tremors experienced in the Marmara region in the first days of July are also too remarkable to be ignored. According to Özmen, the earthquakes with magnitudes of 3.9, 4.2, and 4.3 in Gemlik on July 1 and 2, followed by the 3.8 magnitude earthquake recorded on the Kumburgaz segment off the coast of Silivri on July 5, once again revealed the danger potential of the Marmara region.

Reminding that earthquakes occur not only at plate boundaries but also in intra-plate regions such as Konya and Ankara, Özmen emphasized that all of Turkey should be handled with seriousness in terms of seismic risk.

News Source: 12punto