Earthquake Activity in Lebanon

  In an article by Lauren Williams titled, “Beirut is Ridiculously Unprepared for a Major Earthquake it describes the massive earthquake Lebanon encountered in 551AD in “the Roman empire, Berytus, the capital of modern-day Lebanon. She states, “A massive earthquake tumbled buildings and sparked a tsunami that wiped the city off the map and killed an estimated 30,000 people. It took decades for Beirut to recover its position as a regional capital following the disaster, and even then, it never entirely regained its former glory (Paragraph 2). “The country is overdue for another major quake, the last one having hit in 1759, when two quakes, one month apart and each measuring a seven on the Richter scale, killed some 40,000 people in Lebanon and Syria. The Yammouneh fault line produces an earthquake about once every eight to 10 centuries, and the Mount Lebanon Thrust every 15 to 17 centuries. Both have the potential to generate earthquakes of up to 7.5 in magnitude” (Paragraph 6).

 "No fewer than four major tectonic plates (Arabia, Eurasia, India, and Africa) and one smaller tectonic block (Anatolia) are responsible for seismicity and tectonics in the Middle East”.(https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1083/k/).

     The most interesting thing I found in this article pertains to the enormous amount of people living amongst the coast. William states, “70% of the 4 million people live among the coast”. When in regards to what the country is doing to minimize the impact from the next unpredictable earthquake, there was “A law passed in 1994 says all new construction must be built according to standards incorporating seismic resistance. But most residential buildings are old, built before these laws were introduced. And with little government oversight, construction laws are rarely enforced”.  As for the citizens of Lebanon, the structures of the buildings are not meant for seismic action to occur because as mentioned before, only new buildings are built to withstand earthquakes and although they are not aware of when the next earthquake will come, it is best to be prepared when dealing with natural disaster especially for the Lebanese citizens living among the coast. I was majorly surprised to see that no earthquake had occurred since then  but even more so, how unprepared it was for one and a Tsunami included.