10 provinces experienced ‘cosmic disaster’: Experts

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

The deadly earthquakes that hit southern Türkiye occurred in “abnormal” intensity, as a large amount of energy had accumulated in the region for 500 years, experts have said.

Stating that an earthquake of this magnitude occurred 500 years ago in the Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaras, where the first earthquake occurred, experts noted that the historians of that period described the earthquake that killed 300,000 people as a cosmic disaster.

With an earthquake of the same intensity and magnitude, a cosmic catastrophe occurred once again, they said.

Italian geophysicist Carlo Doglioni stated that the destructiveness of the earthquake was enormous, as an extremely large amount of energy was released in just 30 to 40 seconds.

“It was almost like the whole country moved,” he expressed.

Prominent geologist Naci Görür also noted that experts in the country had been warning about a possible major earthquake in the quake-affected area for a long time, stressing that the earthquake was not a surprise and that the possibility was ignored.

The quake area is one of the most dangerous regions of the country in terms of earthquakes, as it is the intersection zone of three tectonic plates, stated Süleyman Pampal, an expert from Ankara’s Gazi University.

Pampal noted that when they examined the data on earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş, they found that the earthquake acceleration was two times the acceleration of gravity.

“This means that the destructive effect is abnormally large,” he expressed.

Some experts believe that two earthquakes of such magnitude may trigger other faults underground and that their aftershocks may last at least two years.