Minor Earthquake Experience in the home town

These days the whole world is mourning due to the unfortunate Earthquake that happened in Turkey and Syria. According to the reports, more than 23,000 people have been dead and severe damage has occurred in both countries. Rescue and humanitarian teams still finding people alive under the debris.

On the 6th of February 2023, two major earthquakes were recorded at about 7.8 and 7.5 on the magnitude scale. This range is catastrophic and 100+ aftershocks were recorded as well. Hope more survivors will be found and the situation gets calm down pretty soon.

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Here it's reported that a few apartment building has shattered into rubbles with this earthquake. As they are new experts said that if they have constructed according to the new standards they can resist this magnitude. There are various modern construction techniques used in constructing high-rise buildings to withstand earthquakes, such as damping, isolation, etc. Anway this collapses has affect the major damages to human lives.

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Earthquake can occur due to the movement of tectonic plates of the earth's crust. It means that the earth's crust is divided into several parts and if two of them move apart or towards each other, a large amount of energy can be released. this energy travels through the earth as seismic waves and it can cause vibration causing damage. The magnitude of energy is determined by the Richter scale based on the energy released.

A magnitude equal to or higher than 6 can be a critical earthquake and even a value of 3, which is considered to be minor can cause trouble.

Earthquake Seismograph

Yesterday, we could experience a minor earthquake with a magnitude of 3. This is new in my area. My parents and I were sitting in the house and first, we felt the vibration of the roof, walls, and ground for around 5-10 seconds, 2 times. It's reported that the same incident happened in nearby cities Buttala, Weelawaya, and Monaragala. The highest effect has happened in Pelwatta.

Origin Time	2023/02/10 from 06.41 - 12.11 local time
Magnitude	3.0 M
Depth	0+/- 10 km
Latitude	6.73N +/- km
Longitude	81.18 E +/- km

According to the geological survey and mines bureau Sri lanka

No serious damages have been reported and we heard some cracks in a few houses and damage to a stupa in a temple near the Pelwatta sugar company area.

The Disaster Management Centre said that there is no need to panic or further incidents. Wishing that this will be true.

Until the next time! Enjoy!

Thank you.
Best Regards!