Two people have ben killed and several injured after an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the richter scale hit the coast of Turkey early on Friday morning.
ADVERTISEMENTAt least two people have been killed and several injured on Greece’s Kos island by a strong earthquake that struck between Greece and Turkey early on Friday morning.
The deaths were confirmed by George Kyritsis, the mayor of the island which is a major tourist resort in the Dodecanese Islands archipelago.
Greece’s fire service reported it had rescued three people from a damaged building.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the tremor at 6.7, with its epicentre off the southwestern Turkish coastal city of Marmaris.
The quake, which struck at 1:31 a.m. (2231 GMT on Thursday), close to the Turkish town of Bodrum was initially reported as a magnitude 6.9, and was very shallow, only 6.2 miles (10 km) below the seabed.
A magnitude 6.7 quake is considered strong and is capable of causing considerable damage, but the effects of this one would have been dampened by seas.
Turkey is prone to earthquakes because it is located between the Arabian plate and Eurasian plate.
The chairman of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), Mehmet Halis Bilden, warned citizens about incoming aftershocks and added there were no casualties or major damage in Turkey.
“Our people should know that aftershocks are continuing, so they should refrain from entering damaged or vulnerable structures,”
Data on AFAD’s website showed at least 13 aftershocks (12 in Turkey and one in Greece) with 5 of them over 4.0 magnitude. One of the aftershocks was a magnitude 4.6 that struck at 1:52 a.m. (2252 GMT on Thursday).