A very strong earthquake shook Turkey. It is said to have been felt right up to neighboring countries. Experts fear serious damage.
A strong earthquake shook Turkey. Earthquake services indicate the strength at least 6.5 to 6.9 on the Richter scale, the data vary. The quake came from the province of Elazig in the east of the country.
Allah’ım yardım et
Umarım can kaybı yoktur # Elazig #deprem pic.twitter.com/GRKOhsfALw– S ÇELİK (@ Scelik156) January 24, 2020
The center was located in the Sivrice district, the state news agency Anadolu reported. The earthquake is said to have been felt across the country, as well as in Israel, Iraq and Syria, according to initial reports. Turkish interior minister Süleyman Solu has now confirmed the death of four people, according to Turkish media. There were two fatalities in Elazig and in nearby Malatya. Solu announced that he would immediately travel to the region.
The Turkish earthquake service has since registered dozens of aftershocks with a magnitude of up to 4.5. Images of numerous collapsed houses are circulating on social networks, and a few fires have broken out. Videos on Twitter show the fire in a multi-storey house in Elazig:
# Elazig Sivrice’de meydana gel 6.8 büyüklüğündeki #deprem sonrası İstasyon Caddesinde bir binanın çatısında yangın çıktı.https://t.co/cNaZgZW8Hi pic.twitter.com/zoP2I5SmNl
– TRT HABER (@trthaber) January 24, 2020
# Elazig‘daki #deprem sonrası, bir binada doğalgaz kaynaklı patlama sonucu yangın çıktı. pic.twitter.com/CQBtI7AQnH
– Abdi Baktur (@abdibaktur) January 24, 2020
The last major earthquake in 1875 occurred at the fault zone, the border between the Arab and Anatolian continental plates, reports the website erdbebebennews.de. Experts had warned that considerable tension had built up there and a strong quake could occur.
The vibration is said to have taken place at 6.55 p.m. German time (20.55 p.m. local time) at a depth of ten kilometers. The Catnews service of the German scientist Andreas Schäfer has determined that the intensity around the epicenter may mean large-scale destruction. Adverse weather conditions make matters worse for the people there. In the region, temperatures are currently dropping well below zero degrees.
The area around the center of the quake is comparatively sparsely populated, but many buildings there, according to the European Mediterranean Earthquake Center, may not be earthquake-proof.
In Turkey there are always earthquakes. One of the worst was 7.6 in 1999. The epicenter was in Gölcük southeast of Istanbul. There were tens of thousands injured and dead.
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