A new scientific mission to the earthquake-affected areas of Turkey and Syria is being organized by OASP President Prof. Efthymis Lekkas, Associate Professor Emmanuel Vasilakis and Dr. J. Spiridon Mavrulis of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in an attempt to identify the factors behind the huge catastrophe.

As stated in the relevant message, for the first time in the remote region of Elbistan, a section of one of the two faults was discovered, which caused earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.9 and 7.7 on the Richter scale. This is one of the largest malfunction disclosures in the world. The exposed fault surface has a displacement of more than 5 meters..

“Instead of being located in tectonic trenches or funnels, it was located on the crest of a mountain range, decisively shaping the relief and changing the appearance of the earth’s surface, causing large landslides, shifting the flow of rivers and the destruction of large residential units, which could not in any way cope with such a degree of deformation“.

Also south of Malatya, in the city of Gölbashi, at the end of a 300-kilometer fault, a combination of coseismic ruptures caused a strong deformation of the earth’s surface, subsidence of part of the city and intensive liquefaction of the geological formation of the foundation of structures.

The result of the combination of the above was large and peculiar damage to buildings, in which they collapsed, deviated from the vertical and created new damage, and the railway network showed intense deformation.

As the researchers emphasize, anti-seismic planning based on new developments requires special microzonal studies at the warning level, which will be based on the latest data.

Source: RES-IPE