North Cyprus Geography

Earthquakes

Cyprus is located in the palm of what is known as the Cyprian Arc. Unfortunately the exact location of the Cyprian Arc is still under debate. It seems that each time that a study is conducted, different results emerge. It has reached the point that people do not even know what type of fault the Cyprian Arc is.

Here is what is known. The Cyprian Arc is a part of what is known as the Alpine Himalayan Tectonic belt. It is an inverse arc that cradles Cyprus. Or in some beliefs actually passes through Cyprus. After the tragedy of 2004 when a resulting tsunami devastated the Asian region (Indonesia being the hardest hit), countries all over the world wanted to test if they were ready for a tsunami. More importantly could they setup an early warning system that would prevent such a disaster from happening on their shores? At this time the Government of the republic of Cyprus determined that in the case of the Cyprian Arch the resulting tsunami would get to the southernmost shore so fast that an evacuation would be impossible and thus an early warning system would be futile. However, there are still many monitoring stations and seismic sensors throughout the country.

Now for the good news, the possibility of this happening is actually quite remote for even though Cyprus finds itself in one of the most active seismic sectors of the world, it is located in the less active zone of this sector. Throughout the year the sensors on the island monitor many tremors that go unperceived by the local population. In recent history there have been only a handful of earthquakes that have done serious damage to the infrastructure and populous of the island. After the last great earthquake that devastated Paphos (Magnitude 6.1 on the Richter) new building standards were put in place to safe guard the population.

Even though this is an Island that has said to have sunk beneath the waves quite a few times in the past, it remains quite stable today and the chances of a big seismic event occurring is as likely here as it is anywhere else in the world.

North Cyprus Geography

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