Deadly earthquake strikes Turkey and Greece, both countries ‘ready to help each other’
At least 19 people have been killed and hundreds injured after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey’s western coast and parts of Greece on Friday as both nations vowed to help the other in their recovery efforts.
The Turkish government’s disaster agency said 17 people had died, one due to drowning, while the number of people injured rose to 709.
Among the dead were the wife and two children of the secretary-general of the Turkish Medical Association’s Izmir branch, the group said.
The tremor could be felt as far away as in Istanbul and on Greek islands, where officials said two teenagers had been found dead after a wall had collapsed in an area of Vathy, a town on the island of Samos. High tidal waves were seen in both countries and led to flooding on parts of the Izmir coast.
Greek public television said the quake also caused a mini-tsunami on the eastern Aegean Sea island of Samos, damaging buildings.
The US Geological Survey said the 7.0 magnitude quake was registered 14km (8.6 miles) off the Greek town of Karlovasi on Samos.
Turkey’s disaster agency reported a lower magnitude of 6.6 for the quake while Greece’s seismological agency said it measured 6.7.
Search and rescue operations continued at 17 collapsed or damaged buildings in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, the agency said. Authorities were setting up tents with a total capacity of 2,000 people near areas with the highest damage, Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum said.
Images from Izmir showed collapsed buildings and dazed people trying to make their way through rubble piled high on the streets.
