A magnitude 6.6 earthquake has hit Turkey’s Aegean coast. Several killed and wounded. Buildings have been destroyed. Recovery efforts are under way
AGENCIES / WEB DESK
Scores of people were killed and more than 500 others injured when a magnitude 6.6 earthquake jolted the city of Izmir on the Turkish Aegean on Friday, according to the country’s disaster management agency.
According to Anadolu agency, so far 70 people rescued from debris in Bayrakli district of Izmir, Turkey’s 3rd-largest city by population
The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said the quake occurred at 2.51 p.m. local time (1151GMT) at a depth of 16.54 kilometers (around 10 miles).
At least 84 aftershocks, 16 of them over magnitude 4.0, were recorded after the quake, the agency said.
Search and rescue work continues around 17 destroyed and damaged buildings in the city of some 4.37 million – Turkey’s third-largest city by population.
Over 50 vehicles and nearly 200 rescue workers were dispatched to the scene, the disaster agency added.
The Turkish Red Crescent also sent 48 staffers, 16 vehicles, and a mobile kitchen which has the capacity to serve over 25,000 people.
Also, 960 disaster tents, 4,500 blankets, 3,672 beds were dispatched to the region, the disaster management agency added.
It also said emergency aid of 5 million Turkish liras (around $600,000) was sent to the region by the Family, Labor and Social Services Ministry.
So far 70 people have been rescued from the debris, said Izmir Governor Yavuz Selim Kosger.
He added that there was a partial tsunami in the coastal district of Seferihisar, where at least one person was injured.
Later, AFAD said that another earthquake, magnitude 5.1, hit the Aegean Sea, 20 kilometers off the Kusadasi district of Turkey’s Aydin province.