The National Center for Earthquakes in Syria issued a detailed census of the number of aftershocks that hit the country, since the large earthquake occurred on February 6 until Friday, March 3, with a total of nearly 4,000 within 4 weeks.
The center revealed the details of the number of tremors according to their degree of strength, amounting to 3867 tremors, as follows:
• The number of earthquakes of 2-3 degrees reached 1943.
• The number of earthquakes with a magnitude of 3-4 reached 1502.
• The number of earthquakes with a magnitude of 4-5 degrees reached 378.
• The number of tremors with a strength between 5-6 degrees reached 33.
• 4 tremors with a magnitude of more than 6 degrees.
• 7.5 magnitude earthquake.
• The big earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8.
• The rest of the tremors of less than two degrees.
As for the total seismic events during the 36 days from the beginning of 2023 until the occurrence of the major earthquake, it amounted to only 34 tremors, with a maximum of 4.7 degrees, according to the National Seismological Center.
With the passage of nearly a month since the devastating earthquake occurred, tremors and aftershocks continue in Syria, Turkey and many countries in the region.
Weak tremors.. but scary
Although the statistics revealed mostly weak tremors, some of them raise panic and fear again from the recurrence of the catastrophe of the Great February earthquake, which left widespread destruction and tens of thousands of victims, injured, missing and affected people in many governorates, such as Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Tartous, Homs and Hama, which were announced by the Syrian government. disaster areas.
Turkey is using a ship as a shelter for those affected by the earthquake
till when?
The statistics of the National Earthquake Center revealed dozens of relatively strong aftershocks of 5 to 6 degrees or more on the Richter scale, which causes confusion among people and raises wide questions about how long this state of instability will last, seismic aftershocks, what they are, and the mechanisms of their activity and latency.
Muhammad Daoud, head of the Seismology Department at the Higher Institute for Seismic Research and Studies at Damascus University, said in an interview with Sky News Arabia:
• All the earthquakes that hit Syria over a period of 4 weeks are caused by the large earthquake of magnitude 7.8, and it may continue for the next several weeks and perhaps months, until the region returns to the state of balance again and the seismic activity returns to its previous state, and the speed of continuous movement of the plate boundaries declines to what it was before the main earthquake .
Turkey earthquake destroyed large parts of the historic “Gaziantep” castle
• This matter is verified through seismic monitoring centers, and through satellite measurements of changes in the speed of the permanent movement of the earth’s crust, and to ensure that it returns to what it was before the occurrence of the main earthquake.
• Subsequent earthquakes are weaker than the main ones, but nevertheless they may be destructive sometimes, and in this case it may be a sign of the imminence of a new devastating earthquake of much greater strength in the same place.
• Aftershocks are earthquakes that occur after earthquakes whose magnitude exceeds 6 degrees, and are always characterized by being weaker than them, and they represent the most prominent indicator of the decline in the volume of energy stored in the geological structure that generates strong, destructive earthquakes, as the successive occurrence of aftershocks is a natural matter to restore the imbalance as a result of the occurrence of an earthquake The destructive.
• Tremors occur over large areas, especially if the main earthquake occurred on the boundaries of several tectonic plates, as happened in the last earthquake.
risk factors
The danger of aftershocks comes from their obstruction of relief operations and treatment of the effects of the earthquake and its repercussions, as well as damage to facilities and buildings again after they had been subjected to cracks as a result of the first earthquake, but they had not collapsed yet.
Therefore, aftershocks may cause severe damage to those buildings and places, to the point of their collapse. Therefore, residents of the affected areas should not return to their homes and wait until the accurate engineering detection of them and ensuring their safety for housing and living.