Baghdad: The Iraqi General Authority for Meteorology and Seismic Monitoring announced on Sunday that 80 earthquakes were recorded during October within Iraq and its surrounding areas.
According to Qatar News Agency, the authority stated in a press release that the earthquakes’ magnitudes ranged between 1 and 4.3 on the Richter scale, with focal depths between 5 and 39 kilometers. Seismic activity was concentrated in the northern and eastern governorates of Iraq.
The statement added that of the 80 earthquakes recorded last month, 30 occurred within Iraq, while 50 were outside or near its borders, in Iran, Turkiye, and Syria. Earth science experts noted that the increase in seismic activity in northern Iraq is due to the country’s location on the Arabian Plate, which is influenced by the ongoing movement of the Eurasian Plate.
This makes border areas with Iran and Turkiye particularly seismically active. They emphasized that most of the tremors are light to moderate in intensity and do not pose an immediate danger to residents.