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At least 4 dead and 120 injured were left by a grade 7 earthquake that occurred on Friday on the border between Turkey and Greece, causing the collapse of a score of buildings in the coastal province of Izmir.
“Four of our fellow citizens lost their lives in the earthquake (…). A total of 120 fellow citizens were injured, ”Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
The tremor, which was felt in Istanbul and Athens, took place in the Aegean Sea, southwest of Smyrna, Turkey’s third largest city, and near the Greek island of Samos.
“At this time, we have received reports that six buildings collapsed in Bornova and Bayrakli,” in Izmir province, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Twitter.
“Some of our fellow citizens are trapped under the rubble,” added Environment Minister Murat Kurum, who for his part reported five buildings collapsed.
A passerby’s camera managed to capture the exact moment a residential building in the Turkish city of Izmir collapsed. Another 20 buildings suffered the same fate, according to Mayor Tunc Soyer.
According to the USGS, the magnitude 7 earthquake occurred at a depth of ten kilometers.
The country’s television channels showed images of dust clouds rising in the sky, as residents rushed into the streets in panic.
The governor of Istanbul, Ali Yerlikaya, said that no damage was found so far in the economic capital of the country.
“All our institutions began to travel to the site to initiate the necessary efforts,” declared President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Twitter.
Turkey is located in one of the most active seismic zones in the world. In 1999, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the northwest of the country, causing more than 17,000 deaths, a thousand of them in Istanbul.
In 2011, a 7.1 jolt in Van province killed 600 people.
Last January, a 6.7 earthquake killed about 40 people in the Elazig province (east).
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