The cities devastated by the Turkish earthquake lie atop a geologic rift that has wrought havoc on the region throughout the century. Though scientists cannot predict earthquakes precisely, Tuesday's disaster came as no surprise to geologists familiar with the region.
Scientists say earlier, smaller tremors put the area at high risk of a major quake.
Turkey sits astride the North Anatolian Fault and has endured numerous earthquakes this century . The worst came in 1939, measuring 8 on the now-unused Richter Scale and killing 23,000 people. The fault also leaves Iran and Iraq vulnerable to quakes. Those nations are located near the edge of the Arabian tectonic plate, a piece of the Earth's crust that is moving slowly toward Europe. In California, we're moving about an inch a year.