“We have 22 wounded, including one in critical condition,” Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced.
Turkish authorities announced that the earthquake that hit northwestern Turkey in the early hours today, resulting in the injury of 22 people.
The earthquake, which was almost surfacehad a focal depth of about ten kilometers, occurred at 04:08 (local time; 03:08 Greek time) and its epicenter was located about 170 kilometers east of Istanbul.
“We have 22 wounded, including one in critical condition,” Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced.
According to the Turkish Civil Protection Agency (AFAD), the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.9. The US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.1, while the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) estimated that it had a magnitude of six.
The epicenter of the tremor was located in the Black Sea province of Duje and several aftershocks followed, according to AFAD. It was felt in Istanbul and in the capital Ankara.
The mayor of the city of Duje, Faruk Ezlu, told CNN Türk television that many residents panicked.
Turkey sits on top of several tectonic plates and seismic activity in the country is intense.
One of the most powerful earthquakes in recent years, in October 2020 in Izmir (Izmir), on the Turkish coast in the Aegean, claimed the lives of over 100 people.
In January 2000, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Elazig, killing over 40 people.
In November 1999, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake killed about 900 people in the Duje region.
In September of the same year, a very strong 7.4-magnitude earthquake killed at least 17,100 people around the industrial city of Nicomedia (Izmit), about 130 kilometers away.
Seismologists have recently warned that there is a possibility of a strong earthquake hitting Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, in the near future.
RES-EMP
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