Scientists say Monday's deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria looks similar to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that sparked fires and levelled much of the city.
"The geographic settings are fairly different, but the tectonic setting is quite similar," United States Geological Survey earthquake geologist Austin Elliott said.
But there is one major difference between the Bay Area and Turkey.
"Advances in our building codes over the century will generally keep a lot of people safer than they would be otherwise," Elliott said.
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Monday's 7.8 magnitude quake struck at about 4 a.m. local time. There have been hundreds of aftershocks, including a magnitude 7.5 temblor.
The quakes were centered around southern Turkey and northern Syria, with the shaking felt as far away as Beirut, Jerusalem and Gaza.
"A magnitude 7.8, the source of shaking is actually the entire fault line," Elliott said. "The fault rupture in this case was something like 200 km or more long."
Scientists say there are two sides of the fault moving sideways in Turkey, known as a strike-slip fault – similar to the San Andreas Fault in California and a reminder that the region could see a quake of similar size.
"We think of it as the San Francisco earthquake but Santa Rosa was directly on top of it as well and the fault extended all the way up to Cape Mendocino," Cal Tech seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones said. "So when that earthquake repeats, we’re going to see many, many more people right on top of it."
Elliott added that the images of the destruction coming out of Turkey and Syria should serve as a reminder to prepare an emergency kit and a plan.
