The 7.4 magnitude Marmara Earthquake that occurred 22 years ago cost 18,373 lives, 600,000 people were left homeless, and billions of liras of economic loss occurred.
While the reality of natural disasters stood before us, the expected Istanbul earthquake came to mind once again.
“EARTH SHELL IS ACCUMULATING VOLTAGE”
On the anniversary of the Marmara Earthquake, Assoc. Dr. Bülent Özmen, who works at the Gazi University Earthquake Engineering Application and Research Center, made a statement to the Milli Gazete about the earthquake.
Stating that there are faults with the potential to produce nearly a thousand earthquakes in Turkey, Assoc. Dr. Bülent Özmen stated that according to the data, there are earthquakes below the average.
"When we look at the fact that an earthquake greater than seven occurs on average every six years, it is seen that this number should reach 8, that is, the number of earthquakes greater than 7 is below the average. These data show us that the earth's crust continues to accumulate tension and the probability of showing its brutal face as a big earthquake increases with each passing year when the fracture resistance of the earth's crust is exceeded," he said.
“255 YEARS OF SILENCE CAN BRING A BIG EARTHQUAKE”
"With the 17 August earthquake, many studies were carried out in the Marmara Sea. Almost all of these studies showed that Marmara is very dangerous in terms of earthquakes and that there are fault ruptures on the sea floor that have the potential to produce earthquakes of 7 or more. Historical records also show us that Marmara is very active," Özmen said.
"What really scares us is that the earthquakes of September 26 and January 11 broke the silence of the fault ruptures that have passed through Silivri since the earthquakes in 1766, which has lasted for 255 years. We see in various studies that there is a fault activity of 7 and above, 7.5 and even up to 7.7 on the Main Marmara Fault, which the studies show us. Faults off Silivri, which have been dormant for the last 255 years, may cause an earthquake of 7 or more," he added.
“WE LOSE MANY LIVES ON 17 AUGUST”
It has been 22 years since the 17 August 1999 Marmara Earthquake, which stifled Turkey. The 7.4 magnitude earthquake, the epicenter of which is the Gölcük district of Kocaeli and also affected Istanbul, Bolu, Bursa, Eskişehir, Sakarya, Yalova and Zonguldak, occurred at 03.02 am local time and lasted for 45 seconds. According to the parliamentary research report, in the 17 August earthquake, 18 thousand 373 people lost their lives, 48 thousand 901 people were injured and 505 people were disabled. 285 thousand 211 houses and 42 thousand 902 workplaces were damaged. In the Marmara Earthquake, 133,683 buildings collapsed and approximately 600,000 people were left homeless.