The well-being of the 2017 beach season was disrupted by the unfavorable seismic situation on the Turkish and Greek coasts. After the June earthquake in Turkey with an intensity of 6.3 points, severe destruction befell the island of Lesvos (Greece), where one of the villages was destroyed, one person died and 15 were injured. On July 21, the resorts of the Aegean Sea were shaken by a series of new shocks, which caused more severe destruction and numerous victims.
Disaster
Bodrum is a popular Turkish resort for foreigners and residents during holidays and summer months. Friday, July 21, had barely begun when, at half past one in the night, the earth began to shake, and the city suffered a seismic shock with a force of 6.7 points. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the Aegean Sea at a depth of ten kilometers, about 10.3 km southeast of Bodrum and 16.2 km east of the Greek island of Kos, chosen by Europeans. According to eyewitnesses, the first strong earthquake in Bodrum (Turkey) lasted ten seconds.
After the main seismic shocknumerous aftershocks followed - less intense aftershocks, of which there were more than twenty. At least 13 aftershocks (12 in Turkey and one in Greece) rocked resort areas for three hours. Moreover, five of them exceeded 4.0 points, and one aftershock at 1:52 am reached 4.6 points. The earthquake triggered a tsunami with waves half a meter high and 25 cm in amplitude.
Earthquake assessment
CNN meteorologist Karen Magings on the same day reported that the earthquake with an intensity of 6.0 to 6.9 is classified as strong, and the relatively shallow depth of the epicenter (10 km) classifies the seismic strike on July 21 as a major one. She also warned that aftershocks would continue for weeks, maybe months.
There were about 900,000 people within the radius of the greatest seismic activity, who felt the maximum force of the main shock and a number of aftershocks. Earthquake automated reporting systems estimate that 4.3 million people felt this quake in Turkey with varying degrees of intensity.
Consequences
The settlements closest to the epicenter of the earthquake suffered varying degrees of loss. The greatest destruction, severe injuries and two deaths befell the Greek resort of Kos, despite the fact that it was located farther from the epicenter than the coast of Turkey, where the earthquake caused much less damage. The tsunami wave flooded Turkish and Greek beach hotels,in some areas, power transmission and gas distribution networks were damaged, mobile communications were interrupted due to overload, cracks and landslides appeared on the roads in some places. As the aftershocks continued for a long time, most tourists and residents of coastal towns spent the night on the streets, and some hospitals were evacuated for the same reason.
Damage in Turkey
The earthquake occurred at night, when most tourists and indigenous people were indoors. Despite this, there were no deaths or serious injuries. It is believed that the port resorts of Mugla and Bodrum suffered the most damage, although the coastal city of Marmaris was the nearest settlement to the epicenter. There were no reports of destroyed buildings in Turkish cities, but only minor damage, broken water mains, gas leaks and power lines.
Mugly Governor Esengul Chivelek said at a press conference that initial reports showed no major losses and only a small number of people suffered minor injuries. Muğla Mayor Osman Gurun said power outages have affected parts of the province and telephone operators are having problems due to congestion. The mayor of Bodrum, Mehmet Kokadon, said that the consequences of the earthquake in Turkey were small cracks in some old buildings, damage to one road and breakage of boats moored at the piers. According to the research center of the Bosphorus University in Turkey BoğaziçiÜniversitesi, 80 people were injured in the country without serious injuries, and no deaths were reported.
Losses in Greece
The island of Kos suffered the greatest losses and casu alties. According to the president of the Kos Hotel Association, Constanta Swinow, there were 200,000 tourists there on July 21. The mayor of Kos, Georges Kiricis, told local radio that the main town had been damaged, but there were no major problems in the rest of the island. He confirmed that the old building collapsed, and people were crushed by its debris, several of them were injured, two people died. All damaged structures were mostly old, built before the introduction of building registers for seismically hazardous regions.
Giorgos Chalkidios, a regional government official on the island of Kos, confirmed the destruction in the city and added that more than 100 people were injured. A spokesman for the city's fire service reported three injured people who were rescued from the landslide. The Greek Coast Guard reported damage to the port and the cessation of the ferry service for some time. The collapsed Ottoman minaret of the Defterdar Mosque was among the damaged historical and residential buildings, according to Greek press reports.
Fatal bar
Governor of the South Aegean region George Hadjimarkos told the Greek TV channel "Sky" about the death of two people. Death overtook22-year-old Swede and 39-year-old tourist from Turkey, when they were in the White Corner Club, which was located in a building built in 1920. This establishment and the urban area known for its bars were very popular with tourists. After the first, most powerful shock, at 1:30 am, the roof of the White Corner Club collapsed, crushing visitors. Some managed to run out, most were injured. Another Swedish tourist who was there lost both legs, according to local police.
Seismic history
The Aegean region is one of the most seismically active in the world as it lies at the intersection of several fault lines, including Northern Anatolia. Therefore, tremors with an intensity of 5-7 points in the Turkish and Greek territories are frequent. Last year's summer earthquake in Turkey brought to mind more terrible and not so old tragedies.
- 1903 in Turkey was remembered for two earthquakes. The first, with a magnitude of seven, shook Malazgirt in April, destroying 12,000 buildings and killing 3,500 people. In May, aftershocks reached 5.8 magnitude, several villages were affected, and more than a thousand people died.
- 17,000 people died in 1999, when an earthquake exceeded the magnitude of seven in the vicinity of the city of Izmit. On August 17, it devastated the northwestern densely populated regions of the country, and the district of Istanbul was especially affected. The same earthquake produced a magnitude 5.9 tremor in Greece, where 143 people died.human.
- In October 2011, 600 people died in the Turkish province of Van as a result of a severe earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 and a series of strong aftershocks.
- In 1912, 2,800 people were affected and 80,000 homeless after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in August destroyed 25,000 buildings.
The tragedy of 1999 forced a review of acceptable building codes in Turkish earthquake-prone regions. Now in Turkey, houses are being built taking into account seismic stability. Perhaps that is why the coast of this country suffered less than the Greek Kos.
August 2017
On August 5th, a 5.3 magnitude quake followed by aftershocks ended the 2017 summer earthquake season. The epicenter was again in the Aegean Sea near the Turkish Bodrum - 15 kilometers southeast of the city at a depth of 6.96 km. This time there were no casu alties.
