LEO : Earthquake Near Turkey

A major earthquake with its epicenter near Izmit, Turkey struck at 3am local time (8pm EST Monday) near western Turkey's largest cities, only 55 miles from Istanbul and 270 miles from Ankara. The U. S. Geological Survey is estimating the earthquake to be 7.8 Ms, which is classified as a major earthquake and one that causes a lot of damage, especially in highly populated areas. Damage was reported in both Istanbul and Ankara. The death toll has risen over 15,000 and the injured list up to 40,000. The area of Izmit was hit the hardest. Bridges and buildings collapsed and a fire started at a major oil refinery. Many people were trapped in rubble from the collapse of their homes and buildings. The quake occurred relatively shallow, about 10 km below the surface. As many as 300 aftershocks followed the large earthquake. The Turkey quake is of similar size of the 1906 earthquake that killed thousands in San Francisco. Many of the buildings in the area of the earthquake are not up to the latest earthquake codes and this is why so many buildings have crumbled. Most of the victims died in their beds as the buildings were destroyed. Witnesses said that in one place the earth shifted 5 meters to the west.

From the centroid moment tensor solution it is determined that the earthquake was caused from strike-slip motion. The earthquake occurred at 40.64 N, 29.83 E at a depth of 10.0 km at 00:01:38 GMT. The Lehigh Seismic Station recorded the P-arrival at 00:13:01 GMT and the S-arrival at 00:22:61, predicted from iasp91 model. There was more than 300 aftershocks, some measuring as high as 5.3 magnitude. Turkey is a seismically active area with many major earthquakes in its past. Turkey is susceptible to earthquakes because most of the country is moving westwards at 30 millimeters a year along the North Anatolian fault.