Tectonic plates move for three meters in Turkey earthquake

Tectonic plates have moved for about three meters because of the powerful earthquake in Turkey, President of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology of Italy (INGV) Carlo Doglioni said in an interview with Corriere della Sera.

As a result of the disaster, the Arabian Plate moved in the southwesterly direction with respect to the Anatolian Plate. This created a phenomenon that seismologists call a shallow transcurrent fault with a hypocentre (earthquake) at a depth of 15 to 20 kilometres. In relation to Syria, Turkey has moved for five or six metres, Doglioni said adding that more accurate data would be available in the coming days after specialists analyse data from ESA Sentinel and ASI CosmoSkymed satellites.

The Turkish seismological service issued a tsunami alert, but the generated wave was only 30 centimetres high.

The fault spanned an area 190 kilometres long and 25 kilometres wide, causing a series of tremors that reached two most intense peaks nine hours apart. Two of the strongest earthquakes occurred in southern Turkey and northern Syria — they were 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes respectively. The region, where the quakes occurred, is a seismic "hot spot": it is located at the intersection of four continuously colliding plates — Anatolian, Arabian, Eurasian and African.

Earthquakes are part of a protracted seismic epidemic that may last for days, months or even years, Doglioni said. Aftershocks will continue until all energy is released, the specialist said.

According to most recent reports, the death toll from the earthquake in Turkey has reached 3,703 people. As many as 22,286 were injured, Anadolu news agency said.

In Syria, according to SANA agency, 812 people were killed and 1,449 were injured (in provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Idlib and Tartus).