Italian scientists set to examine deadly Turkish earthquakes
Turkish scientist Aybike Akıncı pointing at Italy's earthquake zone on a map in Italy, April 18, 2023. (AA Photo)


Italian scientists plan to carry out a research visit to Türkiye next week to examine samples from the twin earthquakes, said a Turkish scientist living in Italy on Monday.

The earthquakes in southern Türkiye on Feb. 6 formed great interest among Italian scientists, said Aybike Akıncı of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA).

"The research will cover the earthquake’s impact, the area it affected, and the size of the damage it caused," she said, adding that the twin earthquakes were the strongest after the one that hit eastern Erzincan province in 1939.

"The earthquakes are not the type we experience very often. It was a tremor-triggering earthquake. It created two major earthquakes with magnitude 7.7, followed by another measuring 7.6," Akıncı added.

The Italian scientists will visit disaster-stricken areas to examine and produce joint projects and solutions with their Turkish counterparts, she added.

The earthquakes struck 11 Turkish provinces in the southeast, taking over 50,000 lives.

Around 14 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the disaster as well as many others in north of neighboring Syria.