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Rescue teams on Saturday (local time) traversed concrete blocks and rubble from eight collapsed buildings in search of survivors of a powerful earthquake that shook the Aegean coast of Turkey and the north of the Greek island of Samos, killing at least 26 people. More than 800 people have been injured.
The earthquake struck on Friday afternoon, knocking down buildings in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, and causing a small tsunami in the Seferihisar district and in Samos. The earthquake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks.
Ismail Gokmen / AP
Rescuers try to save people trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Izmir, Turkey.
On Saturday early, onlookers cheered as the rescued rescued teenager Inci Okan from the rubble of a devastated eight-story apartment block. Friends and family waited outside the building for news of loved ones still trapped inside, including employees of a dentist’s office on the ground floor.
Two other women, 53 and 35, were rescued from another collapsed two-story building.
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At least 24 people died in Izmir, including an elderly woman who drowned, according to Turkey’s Presidency of Emergency and Disaster Management, or AFAD.
Emrah Gurel / AP
At least 26 people were killed and more than 800 injured in an earthquake that struck Turkey’s coast on Friday (local time).
Two teenagers died on Samos after being hit by a collapsing wall. At least 19 people were injured on the island, two, including a 14-year-old boy, were flown to Athens and seven were hospitalized on the island, health authorities said.
The small tsunami that hit the Turkish coast also affected Samos, with seawater flooding the streets of the main port city of Vathi. Authorities warned people to stay away from the shoreline and potentially damaged buildings.
The earthquake, which according to the Istanbul-based Kandilli Institute had a magnitude of 6.9, was centered in the Aegean northeast of Samos. AFAD said it measured 6.6 and struck at a depth of about 10 miles.
It was felt throughout the eastern Greek islands and as far as Athens and Bulgaria. In Turkey, it shook the Aegean and Marmara regions, including Istanbul. The governor of Istanbul said there were no reports of damage in the city, Turkey’s largest.
Michael Svarnias / AP
Seawater covers a square after an earthquake in the port of Vathi on the Aegean island of Samos, Greece.
Turkey is riddled with faults and prone to earthquakes. In 1999, two powerful earthquakes killed some 87,000 people in northwestern Turkey. Earthquakes are also frequent in Greece.
Authorities warned Izmir residents not to return to the damaged buildings, saying they could collapse in strong aftershocks. Many people spent the night on the streets, too scared to return to their homes, even if they were not harmed, the DHA news agency reported.
More than 3,000 rescue personnel were sent to Izmir, as well as relief supplies. The Turkish Red Crescent installed kitchens.
In a show of solidarity rare in recent months of tense bilateral relations, Greek and Turkish government officials delivered messages of solidarity to each other while the presidents of Greece and Turkey held a telephone conversation.
Relations between Turkey and Greece have been particularly tense, with both warships clashing in the eastern Mediterranean in a dispute over maritime borders and energy exploration rights. The current tension has sparked fears of an open conflict between the two neighbors and NATO allies.
Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
