A strong earthquake shakes Turkey … and the buildings collapse! (Video)

On Friday, a strong earthquake shook the Izmir region, located on the western coast of Turkey, and was felt by residents of Istanbul, Izmir and Athens in Greece.

Turkey’s Department of Emergency and Disaster Management said a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the country’s coastline overlooking the Aegean Sea on Friday, and there were initial reports of entire buildings collapsing as a result of the earthquake.

“The earthquake measured 6.6 on the Richter scale, with its epicenter in the Aegean Sea off the coast of the city of Safrihisar, in western Turkey,” Anadolu Agency reported in a tweet posted on its Twitter account.

Turkish television “TRT” said residents of Istanbul and Izmir also felt the earthquake.

Anadolu Agency quoted the Governor of Istanbul as saying that there was no news of casualties due to the earthquake felt by residents of the city, which was also confirmed by the Governor of Izmir, who said: “We have not yet received information on human losses or materials due to the earthquake. “

However, the Turkish Interior Minister said after that: “The information that we have received so far indicates that 6 buildings had collapsed in the Perakli and Bornova regions in Izmir,” according to Anadolu Agency, which drew attention to the start of search and rescue work on the collapsed buildings.

On the other hand, Reuters reported that the earthquake was also felt by residents of the Greek capital, Athens.

He added: “There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.”

According to preliminary estimates, the earthquake occurred north of Samos around 11:50 GMT.