PDF COPY - Manuel berberian

284 BERBERIAN AND TCHALENKOTwo peculiarities distinguish this earthquake from most other recent destructiveearthquakes in the Middle or Near East. First, as the foreshock was felt and heededby some but not all of the inhabitants, the geographical casualty distribution wasnot a reliable reflection of the local shaking intensity. Thus, casualties were low or nilin some villages near the epicentre which were completely destroyed but in which tilepopulation had slept out of doors; conversely, casualties were relatively high in somevillages near the periphery of the epicentral region where the inhabitants had sleptindoors. Second, on the Salmas Plain there were a number of churches~ which, ewmthough not all of uniform construction, were nevertheless much more resistant thanFig. 5. Site of Khosrova. The destroyed village photographed in 1973.