Istanbul is on the verge of devastating earthquake
The Turkish daily “Hurriyet” quoted two seismologists at a workshop in Istanbul, a scenario predicting a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in the Marmara Sea could kill as many as 30,000 people, but the experts did not say when the disaster would take place.
An earthquake in Istanbul could kill 26,000 to 30,000 people, an expert warned.
“This scenario indicates that a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on the northern Anatolian fault in the Sea of Marmara could kill between 26,000 and 30,000 people”, said Murat Nurlu, head of the Department of Earthquakes of the Department of Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD) .
Turkey is one of the most seismic regions in the world, with Istanbul sitting near a major fault line.
Speaking at a workshop organized by Disaster and Emergency Management and Istanbul Municipality on August 15, Nurlu said the administration had prepared a contingency plan for earthquakes in Istanbul.
“The key to disaster and crisis management is to be prepared for the worst and, according to the Istanbul scenario, in the event of a possible earthquake 60,000 people will be seriously injured and 44,802 buildings will be damaged”, said Nurlu, adding that some 2.4 million people will remain homeless.
Estimates are only for Istanbul and warned of the possibility of a tsunami following the Istanbul earthquake.
“Public institutions, municipalities, disaster and emergency management are all preparing for the earthquake, and we have planned a total of 150,000 temporary shelters”.
In a related note, Professor Shukru Ersoy of the Yildiz University’s Natural Science Research Center spoke at the same workshop and suggested that in the worst case scenario, an earthquake could hit 7.7 degrees.
Ersoy explained that there are a number of fault lines in Turkey that could lead to high tremors.
However, given its large population, the number of buildings in the area, and the fact that it is the financial center of the country, the Marmara region is particularly underpowered.
“For this reason, the earthquake in the Marmara region should be considered a national security issue”, he said.
The Kandili Observatory of Istanbul’s Bozizi University has monitored more than 5,000 earthquakes in Turkey this year, according to the state-run Anatolian agency.
The observatory, which monitors seismic activities through a network of 240 stations, identifies about 10,000 earthquakes in Turkey each year.
In 2017, the corresponding figure was 34,000 earthquakes, due to some 6,000 aftershocks after three earthquakes measuring more than 6 degrees.
A total of 10,503 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more hit Turkey between 1900 and 2017.
The warnings came just days before the 19th anniversary of the Marmara earthquake of August 17, 1999, the worst seismic disaster in modern Turkish history.
The earthquake in 1999 was 7.5 degrees and hit the Marmara, the most densely populated industrial area in the country, killing 17,480 people.
More than 285,000 buildings were damaged and 600,000 people displaced after the 45-second earthquake, leaving many years of social and economic wounds to heal.