51 dead in Izmir as magnitude 6.6 quake shakes Turkey’s west coast
A6.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Seferihisar district in the western province of Izmir on Friday according to the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). The tremors occurred in the Aegean Sea at a depth of 16.5 kilometers (10.3 miles) but were felt across Turkey’s third-largest city and as far away as Istanbul in the north.
Vice President Fuat Oktay said early Sunday that 51 people were killed and nearly 900 others were injured. Crews were working to rescue survivors from the rubble of several buildings.
Speaking on Saturday, Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said some 5,000 search and rescue personnel were working on the ground.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late Saturday that after the debris is removed, new construction work will begin and new houses will be built quickly for those whose homes were destroyed.
Kurum said 17 buildings collapsed in Izmir and rescue efforts were underway at eight of them. So far some 100 people were rescued.
Izmir Governor Yavuz Selim Köşger told reporters that four buildings were completely destroyed in the earthquake, and 70 were rescued from the rubble. He said one of the fatalities had drowned.
Professor Haluk Özener, head of the Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory Earthquake Research Institute, said at a press conference in Istanbul on Friday that there have been 19 aftershocks between the magnitudes of 3.3 and 4.8 since the earthquake, which lasted for more than 15 seconds. He also said a 30 to 40-kilometer fault line ruptured during the tremor.