A Geologist’s-Eye-View of the Van Earthquake

The death toll from Sunday’s magnitude 7.2 earthquake in the Van Province in eastern Turkey has now risen to over 500 people , and will undoubtedly continue to rise as rescuers continue to search the hundreds of buildings that collapsed during the shaking. The tectonic forces ultimately responsible are quite straightforward to explain, but as is often the case, the picture becomes more complicated when we take a closer look – a fact that has consequences for the people caught up in this disaster. The big tectonic picture [More]

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A Geologist’s-Eye-View of the Van Earthquake