More than 24,000 people died after the earthquakes that hit the Turkish-Syrian border on Monday February 6. Rescue operations to find potential survivors continue.
Early Monday, February 6, the earth shook on the Turkish-Syrian border. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake, followed by its many aftershocks, killed at least 24,000 people. As rescue operations continue, images showing the aftermath of the shaking on the surface are pouring in.
The Archyde.com agency was able to shoot drone images in the Turkish town of Kahramanmaraş, closest to the epicenter of the earthquake. We see a crack running through the fields and roads for several kilometres, causing landslides and collapses in its path. The asphalt and road barriers did not resist.
Fields crossed by a fissure
In Tepehan, gorges have been created near homes. Rocks have collapsed, and trees are now found on the side of the hill, their roots in the void.
The daily Release was able to locate an image widely relayed on social networks, where we can see normally parallel rails, deformed by the tremors, making them impassable. The image was taken near the town of Şekeroba, south of Kahramanmaraş.
A shallow earthquake
These observable geological phenomena on the surface are primarily explained by the violence of the earthquake that struck the region. With a magnitude of 7.8, it was followed by a violent aftershock. Rare fact, the latter was of a magnitude almost equal to the initial earthquake, 7.5.
But also because the earth shook relatively close to the surface. This explains the considerable number of victims, the massive destruction of homes, and the cracks.
“The shaking on the surface was more severe than if the quake had been located deeper,” the agency told the agency. Archyde.com David Rothery, planetary geoscientist at the Open University in Britain.
Rescue operations continue. On Friday, several children were rescued from the rubble, five days after the tremors.