Earthquakes on our planet occur daily. If we take in the context of the year, then every year there are about 100 thousand earthquakes of small magnitude, about 100 strong earthquakes, and only a few become known to the general public. One of the places that has been shaking especially often lately and continues to shake is Almaty.
Seismic situation in Almaty in 2018
The last earthquakes in Almaty today were recorded in early February 2018. The epicenter of the latest was located almost 600 km from Almaty, at a depth of 5 km from the surface. The power of the earthquake is 4.2 points. No damage or casu alties were found.
2 days before, on February 2, at a depth of about 10 km, an earthquake with a power of 2-3 points was registered. The epicenter was located on the territory of the city, and the tremors were clearly felt in the vicinity of the 125th school along Gagarin Street. There were also no reports of casu alties or damage.
Earthquakes were also recorded in Almaty last yearthroughout the year. And even on New Year's Eve, December 30, 2017, an earthquake of magnitude 4.4 was recorded. None of them resulted in damage or loss of life.
The strongest earthquakes in Almaty and its environs
The outskirts of the city of Almaty and the city itself are located in the Almaty seismically active region of the 9-point zone in the southeast of Kazakhstan.
The most powerful earthquakes were recorded in the 20th century, as well as one of the most powerful - at the end of the 19th century, which caused the most damage to the city of Verny (the former name of the city of Almaty), an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale. Here are the most famous and most sensible ones:
- Kemin earthquake - 1911 - as a result of this earthquake, Lake Kaindy was formed, which is considered by many tourists to be one of the most beautiful and picturesque places in Kazakhstan.
- Kemino-Chuy earthquake - June 20, 1936.
- Chilik earthquake - November 30, 1967.
- Sary-Kamysh earthquake - June 5, 1970.
- Dzhambul earthquake - May 10, 1971.
All those earthquakes were quite powerful. Some of them exceeded the magnitude of 8 points. And although after the most destructive Vernensky earthquake of 1887, Almaty (formerly the city of Verny) was moved and rebuilt, new principles of urban planning were introduced, taking into account the seismically unstable geographical position, iftoday there was an earthquake of similar power in Almaty, the victims would be estimated, according to various estimates, in the hundreds of thousands of dead, not to mention multi-billion dollar losses.
Will Almaty cope with earthquakes of magnitude 8+?
After the earthquakes of the 70s, the Institute of Seismology has been studying and trying to prevent earthquakes. And, despite the fact that today the architecture of many developed countries uses anti-seismic engineering technologies (USA, Japan, Turkey), especially in the construction of high-rise buildings, according to a number of experts, as well as the experience of other countries (Japan, China), the conclusion suggests itself that modern Almaty will not withstand earthquakes with an epicenter within the city, exceeding a magnitude of 8.
In this regard, it is incredibly important to engage in both earthquake research and prevention in order to be able to carry out timely evacuation of the population from the epicenter of the disaster, and it is important to improve engineering systems and the latest materials for the construction of more seismically reliable structures and buildings.
