A number of residents and professionals in Kazakhstan expressed want that the disaster in Türkiye and Syria might function a cautionary story for his or her nation.
(AFP)
When a devastating earthquake and aftershocks struck Türkiye and Syria this month, Klara Imangalieva — who lives within the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan — realised she needed to transfer.
“We’re additionally in peril,” mentioned Imangalieva, a resident of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest metropolis dominated by the snow-capped Tian Shan mountains.
“I am seeking to transfer right into a single-storey home to at the very least have an opportunity of surviving within the occasion of an earthquake,” mentioned Imangalieva, who lives on the ninth ground of a high-rise constructing.
Almaty, which has a inhabitants of round two million folks, sits in a excessive seismic hazard zone in southeastern Kazakhstan.
Small tremors are pretty widespread within the nation though there has not been a serious quake in dwelling reminiscence.
Three historic earthquakes hit Almaty — then referred to as Verny — greater than a century in the past in 1887, 1889 and 1911. Every time town was closely destroyed and needed to be rebuilt.
The horrific earthquake and aftershocks that shook Türkiye and Syria in early February, killing greater than 48,000 folks in each nations, stirred fears a couple of doable new catastrophe within the former Soviet nation and drew contemporary consideration to its previous and present constructing practices.
Architect Almas Ordabayev says it’s unclear what number of buildings in Almaty would be capable to stand up to highly effective shocks, singling out early Soviet-era homes as a specific concern.
“All of the buildings constructed earlier than the top of the Fifties which haven’t been strengthened won’t survive an earthquake just like the one in Türkiye”, mentioned 84-year-old Ordabayev.
Ordabayev additionally raised concern in regards to the development practices within the post-Soviet period.
“Solely a powerful earthquake will reveal what’s going to occur to buildings constructed within the Nineties by corrupt and prison firms,” he mentioned.
READ MORE: Quake survivors danger their lives to recuperate belongings from broken properties
‘Lesson to authorities’
Ordabayev expressed hope that the disaster in Türkiye and Syria might function a cautionary story.
The size of the destruction has ignited fury in Türkiye, which has a number of fault traces and a historical past of main tremors.
“I hope that the earthquake in Türkiye will function a lesson to our authorities and builders,” Ordabayev mentioned.
Based on estimates, greater than 5 million folks in Kazakhstan stay in a excessive seismic zone overlaying over 11 p.c of the nation’s territory.
Deputy head of Almaty’s Institute of Seismology, Nursaren Uzbekov, mentioned round 40,000 earthquakes had been recorded within the nation over the previous 5 years.
On common, between 9 to fifteen quakes might be felt every year, he added.
Uzbekov’s institute, based in 1976, research vibrations deep contained in the Earth and the behaviour of animals equivalent to snakes, birds, rabbits and fish.
A community of seismic stations displays real-time floor movement in Kazakhstan and neighbouring nations.
Grigory Kochkarov works at one such station perched within the mountains overlooking Almaty.
“If there’s an earthquake, we instantly see it on the display, obtain an audible sign and in ten minutes most, we transmit the knowledge”, he advised AFP information company.
The station’s seismographs are delicate to minute vibrations and might detect exercise occurring 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) away, he mentioned.
He demonstrated lengthy sheets of white paper — a few of the seismograms recorded by the observatory date again to the Thirties.
Kochkarov then opened a heavy door resulting in a aspect chamber hewn out of the earth. Inside there was a long-corridor — the place “usually, no person goes” — containing delicate measuring gear.
However specialists say that the energy-rich nation doesn’t have sufficient seismic stations and nearly all of seismographs date again to the Soviet-era.
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Quake fears
Different nations in former Soviet Central Asia additionally concern {that a} harmful earthquake might wreak havoc ultimately.
After the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, authorities in mountainous Kyrgyzstan pledged to evaluate the seismic resilience of high-rise buildings.
In Uzbekistan, an earthquake destroyed a lot of the capital Tashkent in 1966, and Soviet authorities needed to rebuild town.
Pensioner Nuriddin Ibragimov mentioned he was 13 when the tragedy struck.
“Tashkent was in ruins,” he mentioned, noting that the Soviet authorities coated up the actual loss of life toll.
Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, was razed to the bottom in 1948 in one of many deadliest quakes of the twentieth century. The catastrophe claimed an estimated 100,000 lives.
At this time Turkmenistan takes “vital measures to protect the structural integrity of buildings”, a authorities supply advised AFP.
Consultants additionally warn that in Tajikistan, Lake Sarez, which fashioned because of a serious earthquake in 1911, might pose a serious menace sooner or later.
The lake is situated behind a pure dam deep within the Pamir mountains, and if the dam is breached, the results will probably be catastrophic.
READ MORE: ‘Solely two or three homes are left standing’: Türkiye quakes stage village
Supply: AFP