Why was the recent earthquake in Turkey so destructive?
The August 17, 1999, magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Turkey leveled thousands of buildings and resulted in over 10,000 deaths. This was the largest earthquake in western Turkey in this century, but it was just the latest in a series of destructive earthquakes from the North Anatolian fault. The 1000-km-long (600 miles) North Anatolian fault has produced seven large (greater than magnitude 7.0) earthquakes in the period from 1939 through 1999. These earthquakes have ruptured the fault progressively from east to west. Seismologists recognized that the westernmost end of the fault, ruptured by the recent earthquake, was particularly hazardous. The North Anatolian fault is similar in many ways to California’s San Andreas fault. They are both right-lateral, strike-slip faults with similar lengths and similar long-term rates of movement. The ground across a strike-slip fault is displaced laterally, and right-lateral slip means that the opposite side of the fault moves to the right. Offsets of up
