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There has been a strong earthquake in the eastern Aegean. The center of the 6.6-magnitude earthquake was in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish province of Izmir and the Greek island of Samos, Turkish and Greek media reported on Friday.
The USGS, which is responsible for the earthquakes, even gave the earthquake a strength of 7. The death toll has now risen to at least twelve, Turkish civil protection agency Afad reported. Another 420 people were injured.
The Foreign Ministry currently has no evidence of Germans among the dead and wounded. The embassy in Athens, the Greek capital, and the consulate in Izmir, Turkey, are still in contact with the responsible authorities, the ministry said late Friday.
According to Greek media reports, two 17-year-olds were found dead in Samos on Friday afternoon. The girl and boy are said to have been walking home in the small town of Vathy after school when the walls of a house collapsed due to the earthquake in a narrow alley.
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According to initial findings, the earthquake occurred very close to the surface. It is also said to be extraordinarily long, around 30 seconds, as announced by the Samos city council. Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu wrote on Twitter that six buildings collapsed and other buildings were damaged.
According to various reports, the earthquake should have been felt in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul and even the Greek capital, Athens.
The authorities asked that the roads not be blocked and that the cellular network be relieved as much as possible. At night, dogs could be seen sniffing the debris looking for buried subjects, headlights illuminated the search point, heavy debris was moved with the help of cranes.
Samos residents are called to spend the night outdoors, in their cars if necessary. So far, Greek geologists are not sure if the biggest earthquake on Friday afternoon was the main one. They warn that strong aftershocks could eventually topple some houses that have already been damaged.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the population in a speech. Help the people affected by the earthquake by all means. Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis offered each other assistance in a phone call, Anadolu reported.
Mitsotakis expressed his condolences to Turkey on Twitter, writing: “Whatever our disagreements, these are times when people have to stand together.” Erdogan also thanked him on Twitter and replied: “That two neighbors show solidarity in difficult times is more important than many things in life.”
The governments of Athens and Ankara are currently at odds due to controversial gas exploration in Turkey and border disputes in the eastern Mediterranean.
EU Council President Charles Michel has offered aid to Turkey and Greece after the severe earthquake in the East Aegean. “My thoughts are with all those affected,” Michel wrote on Twitter on Friday. “The EU is ready to provide support.” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also offered help.
Turkish news broadcaster TRT showed images of a collapsed building in Izmir and reported panic on the streets during the earthquake. The governor of Izmir province said that around 70 people had been rescued from the rubble and that more people were being searched. Telephone connections were interrupted.
Television images showed larger dust clouds over the city. According to Anadolu, the earthquake occurred at 2:51 pm local time (12:51 pm CET).
Warning of waves of three meters in Samos
Clouds of dust rose over Samos and several buildings were damaged, Greek state television reported. Greek television stations showed images of the flooded coastal walk, where the water washed away the cars. Power went out. Flooded streets can also be seen in images from Seferihisar, Turkey.
Turkey is one of the countries most affected by earthquakes in the world. In August 1999, more than 17,000 people died in a 7.6 magnitude earthquake.
The German Geosciences Research Center (GFZ) in Potsdam reported on Friday afternoon on the “severe earthquake with tsunami”. According to GFZ calculations, the waves reached heights of more than 1.5 meters; they could have reached up to three meters high on the coast. Tilmann Frederik, a seismologist with the center, said the quake occurred in an area with high tectonic activity. The last earthquake of this magnitude occurred in the area in the 1950s. (dpa, AFP, teaspoon)
