There was no way to predict the second earthquake that took place on Feb. 6 in Türkiye, according to an eminent French seismologist and geophysicist, referring to the two major quakes early this month.
Xavier Le Pichon, 85, a professor emeritus at Paris’ College de France, told news channel Haberturk that due to its geological traits, Türkiye is a country that needs to be prepared for many quakes.
He stressed that Türkiye has two big fault lines to its north and east.
The first quake at around 4 a.m. on Feb, 6, with magnitude 7.7 on the East Anatolian fault line, caused Anatolia to move west 4 meters (13 feet), and this means a drift of 6 millimeters (one-quarter inch) per year on average, he explained.
"This means that we need 500 years to gather the energy for a four-meter move," said Le Pichon.
Referring to Pazarcik in the province of Kahramanmaras, where the first quake had its epicenter, he explained: "An earthquake jolted Pazarcik in 1513. So we can say that … the quake that could have occurred happened 500 years later. This was expected."
But Le Pichon underlined that the second quake was entirely different, and provoked a move of 10 meters (nearly 34 feet).
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