Wia and wia di earthquake hit and why e dey so deadly?

Nearly 8,000 pipo don die and thousands injure by one big earthquake wey strike south-eastern Turkey, near di Syrian border, for di early hours of 6 February on Monday morning.

Plenty aftershock follow afta di earthquake wey hit near di town of Gaziantep – e include one quake wey dey almost as large as di first one.

Why di earthquake dey so deadly?

Na very big earthquake – e dey registered as 7.8, dem classify am as "major" on di official magnitude scale. E break along about 100km (62 miles) of fault line, e cause serious damage to buildings near di fault.

Prof Joanna Faure Walker, head of di Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction for University College London, tok say: "Out of di deadliest earthquakes wey dey happun for any given year, only two for di last 10 years don dey of equivalent magnitude, and four for di previous 10 years."

But no be only di power of di tremor cause di devastation.

Dis kasala happun for early mor-mor, wen pipo dey inside dey sleep.

Di strength of di buildings too na factor.

Dr Carmen Solana, wey be reader for volcanology and risk communication for di University of Portsmouth, tok say: "Di resistant infrastructure dey unfortunately patchy for South Turkey and especially Syria, so saving lives now mostly dey rely on response. Di next 24 hours dey crucial to find survivors. Afta 48 hours, di number of survivors dey decrease seriously."

Dis na one region wia major earthquake neva happun for more dan 200 years and and wey no show any warning signs, so di level of preparedness go dey less pass di region wey dey used to dey deal wit tremors.

Wetin cause di earthquake?

Di Earth crust dey made up of separate bits, dem dey call am di plates, e dey alongside each oda.

Dis plates often dey try to move but di friction of as dem dey rub up against each oda dey stop dem. But sometimes di pressure dey build until one plate go suddenly move sharply across, and cause di surface to move.

For dis case, na di Arabian plate move northwards and grind against di Anatolian plate.

Friction from di plates na dem dey responsible for very damaging earthquakes in di past.

On 13 August 1822, e cause one earthquake wey register 7.4 in magnitude, e less small pass di 7.8 magnitude wey dey recorded on Monday.

Even so, di 19th Century earthquake bin result in serious damage to towns for di area, wit 7,000 deaths recorded for di city of Aleppo alone. Damaging aftershocks continue for nearly one year.

Plenty several aftershocks don follow di current earthquake and scientists dey expect am to follow di same trend as di previous big one for di region.

How dem dey measure di earthquakes?

Dem dey measure am on a scale dem call di Moment Magnitude Scale (Mw). Dis don replace di Richter scale, wey dey considered now as outdated and less accurate.

Di number dem attribute to an earthquake dey represent a combination of di distance di fault line bin move and di force wey move am.

Dem fit no feel a tremor of 2.5 or less, but dem fit detect am by instruments. Dem dey feel quakes of up to five and e dey cause minor damage. Di Turkish earthquake for 7.8 dey classified as major and e dey usually cause serious damage, as e be for dis instance.

Anytin above 8 dey cause catastrophic damage and fit totally destroy communities for im centre.

How dis earthquake take compare wit oda big earthquakes?

Di earthquake off di coast of Japan for 2011 dey registered as magnitude 9 and e cause widespread damage on di land, and e cause a tsunami – wey lead to major accident for nuclear plant along di coast.

Di largest ever earthquake na 9.5 wey happun for Chile for 1960.