Monday's quakes moved Anatolian continent up to 10 meters, says scientist

The Anatolian continent moved up to 10 meters (nearly 33 feet) as a result of Monday’s powerful earthquakes that jolted southern Turkiye, said an Italian seismologist on Tuesday.

Speaking to Italy’s state-run ANSA news agency, Alessandro Amato of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said that the earthquakes activated a new fault line on the border between Turkiye and Syria, which caused a displacement of the ground up to 10 meters, Anadolu News Agency reports.

“There was a transcurrent movement,” he said, adding that the ground slipped horizontally along the two edges of the fault line with an orientation to the left, in the direction of the Aegean Sea.

Separately, Tina Larsen, a senior researcher with the National Geological Surveys of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), said the tremors from the earthquake were felt in Denmark and Greenland, according to Greenland KNR broadcaster.

“When such a powerful earthquake occurs, the tremors travel from the area where the displacement has occurred in the underground, through the solid earth, and out into the whole world,” she said.

At least 3,549 people were killed, and 22,168 others injured in Turkiye after two strong earthquakes, according to the latest figures announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He added that over 8,000 people have also been rescued so far.

READ: Muslim scholars call for urgent aid for Turkiye, Syria after massive quake