At least one person is now known to have died after a powerful earthquake struck in the Aegean Sea on Monday, off the coasts of Greece and Turkey.
The 6.3 magnitude tremor, felt as far away as Athens, damaged several buildings on the Greek island of Lesbos. The island’s mayor Spyros Galinos said a woman was found dead in her collapsed home in the village of Vrisa.
In Lesvos, Vrisa, we are mourning the first fatality: a woman found dead after her house collapsed because of the earthquake. I’m so sorry. https://t.co/lSnHCPKSuB
— Spyros Galinos (@SpyrosGalinos) 12 juin 2017
Woman trapped under rubble on #Lesvos found dead #earthquake #Greecehttps://t.co/TC0aVdVq0x pic.twitter.com/xt3iKEIeya
— ANA-MPA news (@amna_newseng) 12 juin 2017
Turkish media said the epicenter of the quake was near the Karaburun district of Izmir province.
Social media users who said they were in western Turkey reported a strong and sustained tremor.
“We will be seeing the aftershocks of this in the coming hours, days and weeks,” said Haluk Ozener, head of Turkey’s Kandilli Observatory.
Major geological fault lines cross Turkey and small earthquakes are almost a daily occurrence.
More than 600 people died in October 2011 in the eastern province of Van after a quake of 7.2 magnitude and powerful aftershocks.
In 1999, two massive earthquakes killed about 20,000 people in the densely populated northwest.
with Reuters