Asylum
October 4th, 2010, 11:52 AM
Minor quake gives Istanbul a major jolt
Monday, October 4, 2010
ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires
Though geology and earthquake experts assured Istanbul residents the 4.4-magnitude quake that hit the city Sunday night was nothing to worry about, the tremor caused confusion and panic disproportionate to its size.
In a city where “the big one” is predicted to be just around the corner, residents seemed ill-equipped to handle a serious jolt, flooding phone lines and social-networking websites with earthquake-related messages instead of evacuating their homes or taking other precautionary action.
Mixed messages from public authorities and experts following Sunday’s quake, which struck at 8:49 p.m. in the Marmara Sea region, compounded residents’ confusion. Experts variously argued that the small earthquake could have reduced the risk of a larger one by minimizing pressure on the fault, or could be a sign that a more serious and devastating tremor is on its way.
“It would be impossible with the existing technology to determine whether [Sunday’s] earthquake is a precursor or a protection,” said Mustafa Erdik, the director of the Bosphorus University Earthquake Research Institute, or KRDAE, according to an Anatolia news agency report Monday. He said its epicenter was located over the fault that is expected to produce a large and deadly tremor.
“Only a hundred thousand similar earthquakes would eliminate the tension expected to be discharged by the ‘big one,’” Anatolia quoted Erdik as saying.
Oğuz Gündoğdu, an associate professor at Istanbul University’s faculty of geophysical engineering, told a group of journalists that Sunday’s earthquake should not be considered exceptional, noting that some 10 other quakes had occurred in the same region over the last month. “Yesterday’s earthquake occurred after these small ones. We do not see it as a precursor [to a bigger quake] from a classical point of view,” he said.
The small earthquake must, however, serve as a warning, Gündoğdu added. “[The earthquake] must be seen as a warning for the ‘big one,’” he said. “It invites us to be prepared both in terms of its nature and the effects [a larger earthquake] would have.”
Claiming that the city’s communications systems had collapsed for approximately 20 minutes after the earthquake, he added: “We must learn from this and take precautionary measures. No technology can resist an earthquake of magnitude 7.0, but our aim is to return to normal life as soon as possible after disasters.”
Earthquake shook Twitter
Creating no casualties or material damage, Sunday’s earthquake shook the social-networking site Twitter more than it did the city itself. The phrases “Deprem oldu” (An earthquake occurred) and “Marmara Denizi” (Marmara Sea) became trending topics, among the top keywords mentioned on the site at a particular moment worldwide, on Twitter for hours Sunday night. Turks were criticizing each other for sending Twitter messages during the earthquake instead of seeking safety outside their homes, while non-Turkish speakers expressed confusion about what the fuss was all about.
The epicenter of the earthquake was said to be more than seven kilometers below the Marmara seabed between Silivri and Bandırma, some 60 kilometers from Istanbul. The tremor was felt in Istanbul and all coastal regions surrounding the Marmara Sea, according to a written statement Sunday by KRDAE, which said the quake was most strongly felt in Istanbul’s Avcılar, Bakırköy, Küçükçekmece and Silivri districts. The institute also reported that a successive, even smaller-scale earthquake occurred within the region of the first tremor.
Experts also said that earthquakes of a similar magnitude, but having different epicenters, are generally experienced once or twice a year in the region.
In its written statement Sunday, KRDAE said the earthquake measured a 4.4 magnitude, while the earthquake department in the Prime Ministry’s Emergency Management Directorate reported it to have been of a 4.5 magnitude, according to daily Hürriyet on Monday.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=small-scale-earthquake-shakes-people-experts-and-institutions-2010-10-04
Monday, October 4, 2010
ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires
Though geology and earthquake experts assured Istanbul residents the 4.4-magnitude quake that hit the city Sunday night was nothing to worry about, the tremor caused confusion and panic disproportionate to its size.
In a city where “the big one” is predicted to be just around the corner, residents seemed ill-equipped to handle a serious jolt, flooding phone lines and social-networking websites with earthquake-related messages instead of evacuating their homes or taking other precautionary action.
Mixed messages from public authorities and experts following Sunday’s quake, which struck at 8:49 p.m. in the Marmara Sea region, compounded residents’ confusion. Experts variously argued that the small earthquake could have reduced the risk of a larger one by minimizing pressure on the fault, or could be a sign that a more serious and devastating tremor is on its way.
“It would be impossible with the existing technology to determine whether [Sunday’s] earthquake is a precursor or a protection,” said Mustafa Erdik, the director of the Bosphorus University Earthquake Research Institute, or KRDAE, according to an Anatolia news agency report Monday. He said its epicenter was located over the fault that is expected to produce a large and deadly tremor.
“Only a hundred thousand similar earthquakes would eliminate the tension expected to be discharged by the ‘big one,’” Anatolia quoted Erdik as saying.
Oğuz Gündoğdu, an associate professor at Istanbul University’s faculty of geophysical engineering, told a group of journalists that Sunday’s earthquake should not be considered exceptional, noting that some 10 other quakes had occurred in the same region over the last month. “Yesterday’s earthquake occurred after these small ones. We do not see it as a precursor [to a bigger quake] from a classical point of view,” he said.
The small earthquake must, however, serve as a warning, Gündoğdu added. “[The earthquake] must be seen as a warning for the ‘big one,’” he said. “It invites us to be prepared both in terms of its nature and the effects [a larger earthquake] would have.”
Claiming that the city’s communications systems had collapsed for approximately 20 minutes after the earthquake, he added: “We must learn from this and take precautionary measures. No technology can resist an earthquake of magnitude 7.0, but our aim is to return to normal life as soon as possible after disasters.”
Earthquake shook Twitter
Creating no casualties or material damage, Sunday’s earthquake shook the social-networking site Twitter more than it did the city itself. The phrases “Deprem oldu” (An earthquake occurred) and “Marmara Denizi” (Marmara Sea) became trending topics, among the top keywords mentioned on the site at a particular moment worldwide, on Twitter for hours Sunday night. Turks were criticizing each other for sending Twitter messages during the earthquake instead of seeking safety outside their homes, while non-Turkish speakers expressed confusion about what the fuss was all about.
The epicenter of the earthquake was said to be more than seven kilometers below the Marmara seabed between Silivri and Bandırma, some 60 kilometers from Istanbul. The tremor was felt in Istanbul and all coastal regions surrounding the Marmara Sea, according to a written statement Sunday by KRDAE, which said the quake was most strongly felt in Istanbul’s Avcılar, Bakırköy, Küçükçekmece and Silivri districts. The institute also reported that a successive, even smaller-scale earthquake occurred within the region of the first tremor.
Experts also said that earthquakes of a similar magnitude, but having different epicenters, are generally experienced once or twice a year in the region.
In its written statement Sunday, KRDAE said the earthquake measured a 4.4 magnitude, while the earthquake department in the Prime Ministry’s Emergency Management Directorate reported it to have been of a 4.5 magnitude, according to daily Hürriyet on Monday.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=small-scale-earthquake-shakes-people-experts-and-institutions-2010-10-04