The strong earthquake has caused more than 4,000 deaths! Will this earthquake affect our country? How to prevent secondary disasters after the earthquake?

According to official measurements by the China Earthquake Networks Center, at 9:17 and 18:24 Beijing time on February 6, Turkey experienced two magnitude 7.8 earthquakes with a focal depth of 20 kilometers.

According to the latest reports from Turkish and Syrian media, the strong earthquake that occurred in southern Turkey near the Syrian border in the early morning of the 6th has caused more than 4,000 deaths and nearly 20,000 injuries in both countries. Russia, Poland and other countries have sent search and rescue forces to Turkey and Syria to assist in the rescue.

On February 6, rescuers searched for survivors in a collapsed building in Pazarcik, Kahramanmaraş Province, southern Turkey, the hardest-hit area by the earthquake. Photo by Mustafa Kaya, Xinhua News Agency

At least 10 provinces in Türkiye were affected by the strong earthquake and thousands of houses collapsed

According to Turkish media reports, this earthquake is the most serious earthquake in Turkey since 1999. In the early morning of the 7th local time, Turkish media said that after the strong earthquake, at least 185 aftershocks have occurred in the southeast of the country and its surrounding areas.

Image source: CCTV News Weibo

This earthquake is a swarm earthquake. What are its characteristics?

Sun Shihong, a researcher at the China Earthquake Networks Center, said that the Turkish earthquake should be classified as a swarm earthquake, that is, a group of earthquakes, rather than an isolated or main aftershock type, and the epicenters of the two strong earthquakes were about 96 kilometers apart. In addition, the earthquake had two main shocks of similar magnitude, which is a "double earthquake" among swarm earthquakes.

The main energy of earthquake swarms is released through multiple earthquakes of similar magnitude, without a prominent main shock. The characteristics of earthquake swarms are high frequency of earthquakes, obvious fluctuations in energy release, slow decay, and long duration of activity. The epicenter of earthquake swarms is often shallow (less than 10 kilometers), and the distribution range of earthquake swarms will gradually expand over time.

This is a photo of a collapsed building in Malatya, Türkiye, taken on February 6. Source: Xinhua News Agency, photo by Mustafa Kaya

Liu Jie, a researcher at the China Earthquake Networks Center, said in an interview with CCTV that the two consecutive strong earthquakes in Turkey were related to the local fault structure. In areas with complex structures, earthquake swarms may occur. In addition, according to global statistics, more than 10% of earthquakes are earthquake swarms. In my country, Sichuan also experienced two consecutive 7.2-magnitude earthquakes in 1976. Earthquake swarms are a common phenomenon in earthquake sequences.

Will this earthquake have any impact on China?

The Eurasian seismic belt where Turkey is located extends to China. Will this earthquake have an impact on China? Liu Jie said that China is in the east of the Eurasian seismic belt and Turkey is in the west, and the distance between the two is very far. The China Earthquake Networks Center has counted the relationship between earthquakes around Turkey and earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or above in mainland China over the past century, and found that there was no direct correlation between the two within three months. Therefore, the consultation opinion is that this earthquake has no direct impact on the occurrence of strong earthquakes in mainland China in the short term.

To prevent secondary disasters after an earthquake, you need to master these emergency self-rescue common sense!

Gao Mengtan, a specially appointed expert from the Institute of Geophysics of the China Earthquake Administration, said that the earthquake occurred in the early morning, when most people were indoors and many were asleep, so they had no time to react. In addition, the local buildings were generally weak in earthquake resistance. Taking all the above factors into consideration, the earthquake is likely to cause large casualties and economic losses . In addition, the epicenter is located in the Eurasian seismic belt, which has been relatively active recently, and Turkey has experienced frequent strong earthquakes in history. Experts suggest that it is necessary to guard against strong aftershocks that threaten the safety of people .

Comprehensive sources: Xinhua News Agency, CCTV News, China News Service, People's Daily, etc.