"If we talk about a disaster, there must be a history of its repetition that once it has happened now, it must have happened in the past, and it will definitely happen again in the future," The agency's acting head of the disaster data, information, and communication center, Abdul Muhari, stated during a disaster briefing in Jakarta, Tuesday.
Muhari noted there were two systems in the Turkish earthquake fault, namely the main fault and the secondary fault. The main fault stretches for 200 kilometers, affecting the entire surrounding area.
Tracing back its history, he said that in 1114, an earthquake had struck with a magnitude of more or less the same, above M7.5. However, 200 years later, it repeated in 1344.
The same earthquake struck 400 years later in 1822, and 500 years later, it again occurred in 2023, he stated.
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According to Muhari, with this analysis, geologists can learn the cycle of repeated earthquakes in Turkey within 300-500 years.
"When we talk about geology, we cannot count rigidly. This means that it can be 10 years or more, tens of years, or hundreds of years. If we stretch the cycle length, we will definitely see the timeframe," he remarked.
The M7.7 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023, claimed the lives of at least 44,300 people and forced 1.5 million people to flee their homes.
The Indonesian government has disbursed logistical assistance of 70 tons each for Turkey and Syria that were affected by the earthquake. Humanitarian aid is more focused on Turkey, as there were more victims in the area.
Meanwhile, Syria only received logistical assistance due to its vulnerability caused by the ongoing civil war.
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Translator: Devi Nindy Sari R, Resinta S
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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