Minor earthquakes rock Azerbaijan daily
By Nigar Orujova
Minor earthquakes with small magnitudes occur in Azerbaijan on a daily basis, said Gurban Yetirmishli, the head of the Republican Seismological Service Center of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences.
“As Azerbaijan is located in a zone of seismic activity, small earthquakes occur in the country every day,” he said.
The head of the Center assured that no strong earthquake is expected in Azerbaijan in the near future.
“Therefore, there is no need to worry. In Azerbaijan, we can say, small earthquakes occur every day. The population does not feel the tremors. In particular, tectonic activity is observed in Shamakhi, the southern region, in the northwest, north, and in the Caspian Sea,” he stressed.
The magnitude of routinely occurring earthquakes in Shamakhi is roughly 1.6, 1.2 in Lankaran, and 1.5 Sheki.
Scientists believe the seismogenic zones with the potential to produce dangerous force cover the whole country, and the Alpine-Himalayan seismic belt passes directly through Azerbaijan.
A map of potential seismogenic zones in Azerbaijan was prepared earlier.
The map shows the seismic zones of the southeastern slope of the Greater Caucasus, Shamakhi-Ismayilli zone, Ganjabasar, northwestern zones including Sheki, Zagatala, Balaken, the northern zone of Guba, Siyazan, Devechi, Talysh zone, Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and Azerbaijani territory of the Caspian Sea.
The most seismically active zones in Azerbaijan are the Shamakhi and Ismayilli regions.
Last year was marked with intensification in the seismic processes, as well as the most powerful earthquakes in Azerbaijan in the past 15 years.
Six earthquakes measuring over 5.0 on the Richter scale occurred in Azerbaijan in 2014, releasing a large volume of energy.
Overall, more than 8,000 earthquakes were registered in the country in 2014. These earthquakes occurring at great depth have caused tremors affecting a large area, but there was no damage.
This year, the last earthquake hit the country in Sheki on September 1. Tremors were not felt.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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