Turkey-Syria 7.8 Earthquake

[Al Kowsky]

As of this morning we know over 5,000 people have perished in this massive earthquake with tens of thousands injured 😧. The 7.8 earthquake was soon followed by another measuring 7.5 😮. The city closest to the epicenter is Gaziantep, a city occupied by the ancient Greeks, Romans and Byzantines. The devastation is unimaginable. 

                 

The city of Gaziantep is the home of the Zeugma Mosaics Museum. The city of Zeugma was also occupied by the ancient Romans & is only 30 miles northeast of Gaziantep. The museum has the largest collection of Roman mosaics in the world. We still don't know the status of the museum.

These are before & after photos of the Gaziantep Castle, once occupied by the Romans. The following photos are from the Zeugma Mosaics Museum before the earthquake.

          

                                                                                   Achilles at Skyros

                               

                                                                                   Eros and Psyche

                    

                     

                                  This stunning mosaic has been named "The Gypsy Girl of Zeugma"

          

                                                                                 Zeus/Bull and Europe

 

[ambr0zie]

It is indeed terrible. A horrifying number of buildings collapsed, enormous number of people died/remained without shelter. The weather doesn't help at all. 

I live close to Turkey. In a country that also has a grave potential of seismic activity and is influenced by seismic activity in Turkey. Not good. 

[JeandAcre]

@ambr0zie, to wallow in the obvious, anyone here who knows that is wishing you the very best.  

[Al Kowsky]

2 hours ago, ambr0zie said:

It is indeed terrible. A horrifying number of buildings collapsed, enormous number of people died/remained without shelter. The weather doesn't help at all. 

I live close to Turkey. In a country that also has a grave potential of seismic activity and is influenced by seismic activity in Turkey. Not good. 

Ozie, It's surprising how much of the world experiences seismic activity, even in western NY where I live it's common. Last night Buffalo had a 3.8 earthquake 😮. I lived in Santa Barbara, California in the early 1970s where residents have learned to live with seismic activity. Waking up in the middle of the night & feeling a rolling motion took me some time to adjust to 😟. It's easier to adjust to these events when they happen in the daytime, but in darkness it can be scary.

[robinjojo]

This event adds another tragedy upon the other tragedies that people in the region, especially Northwest Syria, have experienced over the past nine years of civil war, war crimes and a massive refugee crisis. 

I know that international relief agencies are positioned on the Turkish border to provide aid, but the scope of this disaster is way beyond their capabilities.  International help is coming and is on the ground, at least in Turkey. I'm not sure about Syria. The problem with Syria is how do deal with the government, a government that has shown zero interest in its citizens' wellbeing, indeed just the opposite.

[robinjojo]

29 minutes ago, Al Kowsky said:

Ozie, It's surprising how much of the world experiences seismic activity, even in western NY where I live it's common. Last night Buffalo had a 3.8 earthquake 😮. I lived in Santa Barbara, California in the early 1970s where residents have learned to live with seismic activity. Waking up in the middle of the night & feeling a rolling motion took me some time to adjust to 😟. It's easier to adjust to these events when they happen in the daytime, but in darkness it can be scary.

I went through the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.  That was 6.9  on the Richter Scale, strong enough for me, thank you.  One must keep in mind that increases on the Richter Scale are exponential in magnitude.  

The Richter scale is a base-10 logarithmic scale, meaning that each order of magnitude is 10 times more intensive than the last one. That means the earthquake that occurred in Turkey/Syria, at 7.8 (nearly an 8!) was 10 times more intense than Loma Prieta.  

Here's a chart that describes the destructive levels of earthquakes based on the Richter Scale:

[Furryfrog02]

The scenes coming from Syria and Turkey are heart breaking.  I don't have much to add beyond that.  😞

[Al Kowsky]

10 hours ago, robinjojo said:

I went through the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.  That was 6.9  on the Richter Scale, strong enough for me, thank you.  One must keep in mind that increases on the Richter Scale are exponential in magnitude.  

The Richter scale is a base-10 logarithmic scale, meaning that each order of magnitude is 10 times more intensive than the last one. That means the earthquake that occurred in Turkey/Syria, at 7.8 (nearly an 8!) was 10 times more intense than Loma Prieta.  

Here's a chart that describes the destructive levels of earthquakes based on the Richter Scale:

robinjojo, Thanks for posting this Richter Scale chart & explaining the strength of the different increments 😉.