Although the beautiful coasts of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea embrace the country, mountain ranges are Turkey’s most distinctive feature, with the Taurus and Kuzey Anadolu mountain ranges enclosing the high Anatolian Plateau. The mountains, however, are geographically young, still faulting and folding in areas that still indicate that mountain building is still taking place. Turkey lies between three converging continental plates - the Anatolian, Eurasian and Arabian - creating much earth-moving activity. Eighty percent of the country lies within active tectonic zones. In 1999, an earthquake with its epicentre east of Istanbul, was measured at 7.4 on the Richter scale and claimed over 25,000 lives. About 25% of Turkey is covered with forest, serving as the home to diverse flora and fauna. These forests are covered with stands of pine, spruce and cedar, as well as deciduous trees. Turkey has eight drainage basins, the most important being the Tigris and the Euphrates. In the 1980s, Turkey began a major showpiece project, the Southeast Anatolian Project, to produce hydroelectric power by harnessing the flow of these two major rivers. The plan involves building 22 dams and 19 power plants throughout 4 million acres in Eastern Turkey.