Turkey and earthquakes

The North Anatolian Fault in Turkey bears many resemblances to the San Andreas Fault. Both are similar in length, and have motion that is horizontal and right lateral, which means as you look across the fault, the side opposite moves to the right. (Believe me, this is true regardless of which side you stand on.) And, both pass through major population centers, Istanbul being at risk from the NAF. Just another place in the world where plates are jostling up against one another.

 Source: USGS

The graphic below is very cool, integrating lots of information about the geography and historical movement on this fault.  Edward Tufte would be pleased.

The Istanbul area seems overdue for some slip!

The World Bank (a group whose development policies and choice of directors I don't always agree with) has a nice high quality video (along with a number of others) on its YouTube channel, about the seismic retrofitting of buildings in this historic city.

 

What, you thought this was going to be about Thanksgiving?