Monday another earthquake struck southeastern Turkey, near the Syrian border. This time, the quake registered as a magnitude 6.3 — an order lower than the initial, devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the magnitude 7.5 aftershock that struck the area two weeks ago on Feb. 6. As of Tuesday, at least six people were killed and more than 200 injured in the latest quake.

周一，土耳其东南部靠近叙利亚边境的地方又发生了一次地震。这次地震的震级为6.3级，比两周前2月6日袭击该地区的7.8级毁灭性地震和7.5级余震低一级。截至周二，在最近的地震中，至少有6人死亡，200多人受伤。

A magnitude 6.3 is still considered strong, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). And as NPR previously reported, some locals were inside buildings trying to recover belongings lost in the initial quake when Monday's aftershock hit.

根据美国地质调查局(USGS)的数据，6.3级仍然被认为是很强的。据美国国家公共电台此前报道，周一的余震发生时，一些当地人正在建筑物内试图找回在第一次地震中丢失的财物。

It made us wonder: What are aftershocks? And how long will people in Turkey and neighboring countries like Syria have to endure aftershocks while piecing their lives back together? Days? Years?

我们不禁要问：什么是余震?在土耳其和叙利亚等邻国，人们在重建生活的同时还要忍受余震多久?天吗?年?

Earthquake geologist Wendy Bohon says that to be considered an aftershock, an earthquake must both follow a "mainshock," the largest earthquake to occur in the area, and occur before the area has returned to the usual background seismicity level. She notes that aftershocks are common and expected, occurring up to years after an earthquake. In that way, "they're the only earthquakes that we can actually kind of predict," Bohon says.

地震地质学家温迪·博洪表示，要被认定为余震，必须是在“主震”(该地区发生的最大地震)之后，恢复到震前水平之前发生的。她指出，余震是常见的、可预期的，在地震发生后的数年内都会发生。这样一来，"它们是我们唯一可以真正预测的地震，"博洪说。

In fact, the USGS notes that after a M7.8 earthquake like Feb. 6, it is "extremely common for hundreds of aftershocks to occur over the next few weeks, months, or possibly years."

事实上，美国地质调查局指出，在2月6日这样的7.8级地震之后，“在未来几周、几个月甚至几年内发生数百次余震是非常常见的。”

Unfortunately, no technology exists that will precisely and accurately predict when another aftershock may happen.

不幸的是，目前还没有技术能够精确准确地预测下一次余震何时发生。