Turkish disaster agency opens earthquake monitoring station in Azerbaijan

By Oguzhan Sari

Türkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD)’s first earthquake monitoring station abroad became operational in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.

“Our first ‘Derinkuyu’ earthquake monitoring station abroad started operating in Shusha city of friendly and brotherly country Azerbaijan,” AFAD said on X.

It added that the station is the new step in the “deep-rooted and strong cooperation” between the countries.

Earthquakes occurring in every part of the world can be monitored at the station, which was completed in cooperation with AFAD and the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.

A depth of 100 meters was dug for the station. Also, two high-sensitivity earthquake sensors were placed in the well, which was protected with steel pipes.

The sensors record both ground speed and ground acceleration and can even record high-precision micro vibrations free from surface noise.

Azerbaijan regained control of most of the Armenian-occupied Karabakh region, including the city of Shusha, during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which concluded with a Russian-brokered peace deal that paved the way for normalization and border delineation.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar