Attempts to predict the occurrence of an earthquake have become the primary goal that scientists are racing against time to reach, while there are no scientifically proven things yet, amid hopes that prediction in the future will help reduce damage.
What is a seismic line? What are the countries most at risk of tremors?
Predicting when and where earthquakes will occur is almost impossible. But science was able to determine where the most prominent epicenters of earthquakes are located in the world. We review the most prominent of them:
Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean
It extends in the shape of a horseshoe, to include the western coast regions of the United States, western Mexico, Central America, and western South America. About 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur there.
California is most prone to earthquakes
The US state of California is one of the areas most prone to earthquakes, due to its location on the San Andreas fault. This rift extends about 1,200 km in length, and is a meeting point between the Pacific and North American plates.
Japan lies at the intersection of 3 tectonic plates
On the other side of the ring of fire is Japan, the country most notoriously affected by earthquakes. The main islands of the country are located at the junction of three tectonic plates: Eurasian, Philippine and North American.
Indonesia is located at the meeting point of the Indian and Pacific oceans and their plates
The islands of Indonesia are also located in the convergence zone of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and their carrier plates, in addition to the plates delineating the boundaries of the Eurasian and Philippine plates and other small plates. This geographical reality makes the country subject to regular and devastating tremors and earthquakes.
Turkey.. lies on major fault lines that border 3 tectonic plates
It lies on major fault lines that border three different tectonic plates: Anatolian, Arabian, and African. The Arabian plate pushes north towards the Eurasian plate, and presses the Anatolian plate west towards the Aegean Sea.
Italy.. lies on the dividing line between the Eurasian and African plates
Almost all of Italy, especially its southern part, lies close to the dividing line between the Eurasian and African plates, which intertwine, making the region also vulnerable to devastating earthquakes.
The majority of global earthquakes are concentrated at tectonic plate boundaries. Scientists are intensifying their research to find a way to determine the time, location and magnitude of an earthquake.
The director of the Jordanian Seismological Observatory, Ghassan Sweidan, said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”:
- Earthquakes happen suddenly to this day, exposing the fragility of the infrastructure, even if we know the places most vulnerable to disaster.
- What is required is to make the building resistant to earthquakes in the most vulnerable areas, because some developed countries, such as Japan, witness earthquakes on an ongoing basis, and only limited losses are recorded.
- It is not the earthquake that scares the most, but rather the fragile infrastructure.
- Science cannot resist nature and prevent catastrophe, but it can mitigate the impact of an earthquake.
- The Japanese experience has become a pioneer at the present time, through the construction of high towers, and placing the so-called “damps” at the bottom of them, in order to absorb the earthquake.
- Dampers allow the building to have a degree of flexibility, as it takes the direction of the earthquake when the earthquake occurs, and this limits the damage that results from the disaster.