The earthquake of magnitude 6.8 which has hit central Morocco is the biggest the area has seen since before 1900.

摩洛哥中部發(fā)生的里氏6.8級地震是1900年以來該地區(qū)所現(xiàn)的最大震級地震。

More than 1,000 people have died in?the quake, which struck at 23:11 local time on Friday.

The epicentre was in the High Atlas Mountains, 71km (44 miles) south-west of Marrakesh, at a depth of 18.5km, the US Geological Survey said. The main tectonic driver is the collision between the plates that carry the European and African continents.

在這場發(fā)生于當(dāng)?shù)貢r間周五23：11的地震中，有1000多名群眾失去了生命。

美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局稱，本次地震震中地處高阿特拉斯山脈，位于馬拉喀什西南方71千米（44英里），震源深度18.5千米。主要的地質(zhì)成因則是亞歐板塊和非洲板塊間的碰撞。

This quake will be related to the thrusting and faulting that continues to push up the Atlas Mountains. But Morocco is not really the place where such powerful earthquakes occur.

Most of the earthquake activity from this slow (4mm/year) geological "car crash" is further east in the Mediterranean, around Italy, Greece and towards Turkey.

雖然本次地震與不斷將阿特拉斯山脈拔高的版塊擠壓和斷層作用相關(guān)，但摩洛哥并沒有處在容易發(fā)生這種大規(guī)模地震的位置。

大多數(shù)由這個緩慢的（4毫米/年）地理”車禍“所導(dǎo)致的地震現(xiàn)象都發(fā)生在遠(yuǎn)在東邊的地中海沿岸，即意大利、希臘和土耳其附近。

In terms of history, there has been nothing bigger than a magnitude 6.0 within 500km (300 miles) of Friday night's epicentre since before 1900.

This unfamiliarity of this has consequences. The quake memory in the population will be limited and so will have been the preparedness.

根據(jù)歷史，自1900年以來，在此次震中的房源500千米（300英里）之內(nèi)沒有發(fā)生過比本次震級更大的地震。

這種現(xiàn)象之稀有也帶來了嚴(yán)重后果。在摩洛哥所有人口中擁有大地震經(jīng)歷的人寥寥無幾，而該國針對大地震所作的準(zhǔn)備則更是歷歷可數(shù)。

It is often also the case that quakes that hit at night have bigger death tolls, as people are more likely to be inside collapsing buildings.

The US Geological Survey runs a model that estimates the probable scale of the casualties and economic losses. It suggests for this event that the death toll could be in the high hundreds to low thousands.

同時，在夜間發(fā)生的地震往往也會帶來更大的傷亡數(shù)字，因為人們被困在倒塌建筑中的幾率會更大。

美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局通過建模分析了可能的人員傷亡和經(jīng)濟(jì)損失規(guī)模。其結(jié)果是，這次地震造成的死亡人數(shù)可能會有數(shù)百人到數(shù)千人之間。

The current toll could therefore rise and there could be aftershocks. As a rule of thumb people could expect to see one that is about one magnitude less than the main shock.?

But even smaller tremors risk bringing down already damaged buildings.

因此，目前的死亡人數(shù)有可能還會上升，并且此后可能還會有余震。依據(jù)經(jīng)驗，人們可能還會經(jīng)歷一次比主震震級小的地震。

然而，一點(diǎn)輕微的顫動都有很大可能讓已經(jīng)受損的建筑物徹底坍塌。