Over the past few months, deadly quakes have been shaking the Earth and affecting numerous countries all over the world. We've all seen and heard about the dangerous results, especially in Haiti late last year. Yet another earthquake threatened the lives of hundreds of people early this week, this time in the country of Turkey.
At about 4:30 a.m. Monday morning, the earthquake rocked a region of southeastern Turkey, killing at least 38 people and injuring about a hundred more, officials say. The earthquake's magnitude was a 5.8, relatively mild compared to Haiti's own 7.0 or Chili's 8.5. Regardless, earthquakes are a deadly event. Several hours after the initial earthquake, about 40 aftershocks occured with magnitudes of up to 5.5. No other casualties were reported with these, however, many buildings had collapsed and search and rescue teams were sent to help out. One of the hardest hit areas was a Kurdish village called Okular where 15 people were killed and many of the poorly constructed buildings were reduced to rubble and dust. Everyone was forced to evacuate their homes and many tents were put up to give people temporary shelter until rebuilding can take place.
Turkey, a European country, has seen its fair share of earthquakes in the past due to its location on active fault lines. Back in 1999, the country's most heavily populated areas, including its largest city, Istanbul, were hit hard by two very powerful earthquakes which killed over 20,000 people. The earthquake follows the two other major earthquakes which occured in Haiti as well as the more recent one in Chile. Seismologists say that there are no direct connections linking the three quakes together and they have not seen a spike in overall global seismic activity. Scientists also said that earthquakes are a commom natural disaster and they always will be.
I think that the recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and now Turkey are very unfortunate. People here in the United States do not often have to deal with devastating earthquakes like these so we have no idea what it must be like for those people to lose their homes and families. I really feel a lot of sympathy for these people and I have a lot of respect for the ones who are doing everything they can to help with relief efforts.
Sources used: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/07/turkey.earthquake/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/turkey-earthquake-60-quak_n_489678.html
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