What to know about the big quake that hit Turkey and Syria
NEW YORK (AP) — A major 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by another strong quake devastated wide swaths of Turkey and Syria early Monday, killing thousands of people.
Here's what to know:
WHAT HAPPENED?
The quake hit at depth of 11 miles (18 kilometers) and was centered in southern Turkey, near the northern border of Syria, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Many aftershocks rocked the two countries since the initial quake. In the first 11 hours, the region had felt 13 significant aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5, said Alex Hatem, a USGS research geologist.
Another strong quake — magnitude 7.5 — hit Turkey nine hours after the main jolt. Though scientists were studying whether that was an aftershock, they agreed that the two quakes are related.
“More aftershocks are certainly expected, given the size of the main shock,” Hatem said. “We expect aftershocks to continue in the coming days, weeks and months.”
WHAT TYPE OF EARTHQUAKE WAS THIS?
Researchers said the earthquake was a strike-slip quake, where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally.
The Earth is divided up into different pieces, “kind of like a jigsaw puzzle,” said Eric Sandvol, a seismologist at the University of Missouri.
Those pieces meet at fault lines, where the plates usually grind against each other slowly. But once enough tension builds up, they can snap past each other quickly, releasing a large amount of energy.
In this case, one plate moved west while the other moved east — jerking past each other to create the quake, Hatem said.
Over time, aftershocks will start to die down and become less frequent, Sandvol said.
ARE EARTHQUAKES COMMON IN THIS AREA?
The quake occurred in a seismically active area known as the East...