A magnitude 5.5 earthquake occurred in Türkiye. How many seismic zones are there in the world? What is the impact?

Recently, according to news from my country’s China Seismological Network, a 5.5-magnitude earthquake occurred in Turkey. The earthquake occurred at 14:37 on December 27, 2020. The specific location of the earthquake was in the northern latitude 38.54 degrees, east longitude 39.13 degrees. This earthquake in Turkey has a focal depth of 10 kilometers and a magnitude of 5.5. We people can already clearly feel the shaking. The items in our homes will move, the lights above our heads will shake, and the buildings will be damaged to a certain extent.

The houses built in our country can generally withstand earthquakes of magnitude 7 according to standards. In some places, buildings can even withstand earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above. Therefore, if we all encounter a magnitude 5.5 earthquake, we generally don’t need to panic too much. We can just evacuate the building in an orderly manner and avoid taking the elevator.

How many earthquake zones are there in the world? Simply put, seismic zones are areas in the world that are prone to earthquakes. There are three major seismic zones in the world, the Pacific Ring of Fire seismic zone, the Mediterranean seismic zone and the oceanic ridge seismic zone.

Among the three major seismic zones, the Mediterranean seismic zone is near our country, and the Pacific Ring of Fire passes through my country’s western and southwestern borders. Turkey, where this earthquake occurred, is in the Pacific Ring of Fire. superior. In addition to the three major earthquake zones, there are also some smaller earthquake zones, such as the Indonesian earthquake zone, near the border of my country.

Because it is in a seismic zone, earthquakes have occurred frequently in my country since ancient times, and there have been many earthquakes that caused serious damage, such as the 1966 Xingtai earthquake, the 1973 Ganzi earthquake, and the 1975 Haicheng Yingkou earthquake. Major earthquakes include the 1975 Liyang earthquake, the Luhuo earthquake and the Daofu earthquake, the 1976 Tangshan earthquake and the Yunnan Zhaotong earthquake, and the 1977 Liyang earthquake.

For the above earthquakes, except for the two Liyang earthquakes which were slightly lower than 7, the other seven major earthquakes were all above 7! Therefore, observing seismic zones and detecting the location and focal depth of earthquakes is of great significance to help our country study earthquakes, monitor earthquakes, and predict earthquakes.