Yasmina Kattou, edited by Loane Nader 08:45, February 07, 2023
During the night of Sunday to Monday, the deadly earthquake which affected Syria and Turkey reached 7.8 magnitude on the Richter scale, which makes it possible to assess the intensity of earthquakes.
According to the latest available report, there are more than 4,300 victims of the natural disaster, but the report remains provisional while the search for survivors continues.
The earthquake that occurred overnight from Sunday to Monday in Turkey and Syria is shaking the world, as the number of victims and the sight of the rubble are appalling.
And for good reason, the earthquake was very violent, 7.8 magnitude on the Richter scale.
A second very strong shock took place about a hundred kilometers from the first with 7.5 magnitude.
To understand these numbers, you need to know what the Richter scale is.
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The 1960 earthquake in Chile, the strongest ever recorded
The Richter scale therefore makes it possible to calculate the magnitude, that is to say, the energy released during an earthquake.
His theorization dates back to 1935, when Charles Richter, an American seismologist, established a logarithmic equation to evaluate the amplitude of the waves of earthquakes that affect southern California.
The greater the amplitude of the waves, the higher the magnitude.
It must therefore be understood that a point of magnitude more corresponds to an energy released 10 times greater.
The strongest earthquake ever recorded was the one that hit Chile in 1960: it was 9.5 magnitude.
It is for this reason that we hear about the 9 degrees of the Richter scale because before it, it was the Mercalli scale which made it possible to measure the intensity of an earthquake according to the feeling for the earthquake. man, and damage observed on the surface.