The General Authority for Meteorology and Seismic Monitoring recorded 9 earthquakes in the country during the month of March.

The director of the seismic monitoring department, Samira Reda Khalaf, said in a statement to the Ministry of Transport, that: “The total number of earthquakes recorded in the Iraqi seismic monitoring network for this month is (24) earthquakes, including (9) earthquakes inside Iraq, (9) earthquakes inside Iran and two earthquakes in Syria, one earthquake in Turkey, two earthquakes on the Iraqi-Iranian border, and one on the Iraqi-Turkish border. The strength of the earthquakes ranged between (2.1-5.2) degrees, while their focal depths ranged between (5-22) km.

It explained that “the activity in this month focused inside Iran, as it numbered nine earthquakes, which were concentrated in the provinces of Kermanshah, Ilam, Khuzestan, and others, and on the border with Iraq, two earthquakes. As for the rest of the activity that occurred inside Iraq, it was concentrated in Nineveh Governorate, Sinjar district, three earthquakes, and Salah al-Din Governorate two earthquakes come, while the rest of the activity was distributed in a number of governorates, including Dohuk in Zakho district, Sulaymaniyah governorate in Halabja, Maysan governorate in Amarah, and Kirkuk governorate, while two earthquakes were recorded inside Syria and one earthquake inside Turkey.

Khalaf pointed out that “we could observe that the western and southwestern regions of Iraq are free of any seismic activity, and this explains the nature of the movement of the Arabian plate and the location of Iraq in the northeastern part, and the increase in seismic activity towards the collision areas, specifically towards the north and northeast of Iraq.”

Source: National Iraqi News Agency