August Today's earthquake occurred just off the east end of the North Anatolian fault, the same fault that ruptured in August, triggering mass destruction. The fault, said geophysicist Ross Stein, is the spitting image of the San Andreas fault in California. Stein, who works for the U.S. Geological Survey, recently flew over the Turkish towns shaken apart in August. Many of the buildings were rubble from that event, he said. The message is that earthquakes are not isolated events.
Faults stressed by earthquakes can be more dangerous.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. The powerful earthquake that rocked Turkey's northwest today was the latest to hit Turkey since a massive tremor in August that killed more than 17,000 people. Here is a short list of the recent quakes and shocks there. A strong earthquake tears through Turkey's northwest region, destroying hundreds of buildings in the town of Duzce and causing many deaths. A moderate earthquake shakes Istanbul.