No strong earthquake awaiting Azerbaijan
By Nigar Orujova
The tremors felt in the last few days don't necessarily mean that a strong earthquake is going to strike regions of Azerbaijan, Republican Seismological Service Center head Gurban Yetirmishli said.
Azerbaijan is situated in a seismic zone and therefore is considered to be a seismically active region, he added. "Such shocks don't mean that a strong earthquake is ahead. There is nothing fearful. These are just earthquakes on the seismic background."
Yetirmishli noted that among the aftershocks recorded over the last few days, only those that occurred on September 19 were felt.
"There is an active deep-seated fault between Lankaran and Lerik regions. There was an earthquake in 1998. Weak shocks on this site are recorded frequently. This is a sensitive area, so as a result of a 4 Richter Scale magnitude earthquake, some tremors were felt in Lankaran, Lerik and other settlements located near the epicenter. However, the majority of aftershocks that have been reported in recent days were not felt," the seismologist said.
He added that during the day 3, 4, 5 and sometimes 8, 10 aftershocks are recorded in the country every day.
"All of them are very weak, so they can be detected only with devices. We do not report them to the public, these are the basic data needed for our research."
The most seismically active zone in Azerbaijan in terms of the number of earthquakes and the energy released is Shamakhi and Ismayilli. The list also includes Ganja and Talish regions.
The country faced more than 6,000 earthquakes last year. About four of the quakes were measured on three to four magnitude on the Richter scale.