Turkey’s disaster and emergency authority (Afad) said the quake on Friday, measuring about 7.0 in magnitude, struck at 2.51pm local time (11.51am GMT). with 407 aftershocks recorded overnight. Around 800 people were reported injured.
Early on Saturday, onlookers cheered as rescuers lifted teenager Inci Okan out of the rubble of a devastated eight-floor apartment block. Friends and relatives waited outside the building for news of loved ones still trapped inside, including employees of a dentist’s surgery that was located on the ground floor.
Two other women, aged 53 and 35, were rescued from another collapsed two-story building.
Afad said at least 25 people were killed in Izmir, including an elderly woman who drowned.
Two teenagers were killed on the Greek island of Samos after being struck by a collapsing wall. At least 19 people were injured, with two, including a 14-year-old, being airlifted to Athens and seven hospitalised on the island, health authorities said. Samos, which is home to 45,000 people, including around 7,000 refugees, mostly consists of low-rise buildings.
The death toll is expected to rise, with the mayor of İzmir telling CNN Türk that at least 20 buildings had collapsed in the city. İzmir, Turkey’s third largest city, is home to 4.5 million people and serves as a gateway to several holiday resorts.
Original Article: Large quake hits in Aegean Sea
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that among Turkey’s injured, five people are being operated on and eight are in intensive care
TV footage showed water flooding through the streets of Cesme and Seferihisar in parts of Turkey’s wider Izmir province, as well as on the Greek island of Samos, in what officials described as a “mini tsunami.” No tsunami warnings were issued.
Idil Gungor, who works as a journalist and runs a guesthouse in the Turkish town of Siğacik in Izmir province, said that the area was damaged more by the force of the water than the quake itself.
Her guesthouse, in a 100-year-old building, had been inundated and fish were swimming inside it, she said. Shops in town have also been flooded and their goods damaged.
“Everybody is calm but shocked and we’re wondering what will happen, if there’s a second tsunami coming or not,” Gungor said.
