Early Monday morning, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake ripped through Turkey and Syria, followed nine hours later by a 7.5 aftershock. The death toll stands at more than 3,800, and rescuers have only just begun to comb through the collapsed buildings.
Aftershocks will continue to shake the area as local faults adjust to such a huge initial tremor, and scientists say that process could continue for not just days but months or even years. There’s even a chance—albeit a small one—of an aftershock bigger than the original quake.
“The aftershock risk is greatest, essentially, right after the mainshock, but there will be noticeable aftershocks to this earthquake for years afterward,” says David Oglesby, a geophysicist at
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