NEW YORK (Dagbladet): – First we had an earthquake of magnitude 7.8, which caused enormous damage. Eight hours later, a very strong aftershock of magnitude 7.5 took place. It was a double earthquake, which is extremely rare. I don’t see any other example, says Sylvain Barbot to Dagbladet.
He is an earthquake expert and professor at the University of Southern California and closely follows the situation in Turkey and Syria.
The devastation is almost unimaginable and so far 9,500 people have been confirmed dead. The death toll is expected to rise dramatically as rescuers search through the rubble.
– Greatest of all time
– It was probably one of the biggest earthquakes in the history of the planet. It was extremely devastating as it was a very powerful earthquake which caused shaking and subsequent damage to a vulnerable area, said Stephen DeLong, chief scientist at the organization’s earthquake center governmental US Geological Survey, in Dagbladet.
He points out that there is now a risk of additional earthquakes.
– There is always a risk that an earthquake will cause another larger earthquake. Usually an earthquake like this causes a lot of stress to be released. There will also be several aftershocks in the weeks and months following this earthquake. Over time, the likelihood of a large aftershock decreases, DeLong says.
