A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 has rocked eastern Turkey and Syria, according to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
Turkey’s Malatya province was shaken by the quake on Wednesday morning, with tremors felt in the cities of Diyarbakir, Elazig and Malatya, HaberTurk television reported.
In Elazig, around 94 people were left injured according to Turkey Governor Numan Hatipoglu, local media reported.
In Diyarbakir, people left homes in panic, the report said, with AFAD adding: ‘Our teams are on alert and field scanning operations are ongoing’.
Syria’s state news agency says the earthquake was felt in the provinces of Hasakah, Deir Al Zor and Aleppo.
The United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) interactive map displaying where the quake was felt in Turkey’s Malatya province
The USGC also uploaded a map showing the estimated intensity of the quakes
Footage shared to X showed a panicked citizen in Turkey running out of a shaking office
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the quake was at a depth of 5.6 miles below the earth.
AFAD took to X, formerly Twitter, following the first quake to post an update for panicked citizens.
It reported that a total of 374 notifications were made to the 112 Emergency Call Center due to the earthquake, and that four people had been rescued from a partially damaged building in Elazığ province.
However, a total of three buildings were left damaged in the provinces of Malatya, Şanlıurfa and Elazığ, and a rockfall occurred in the Pötürge and Kale districts of Malatya province.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed on X that three buildings had ‘partially collapsed’ in three separate areas and that the emergency services had received several dozen calls for help.
Footage shared on social media has captured shaking office buildings and workspaces, as people dash out from their rooms that seem on the verge of collapse.
Many were waiting in the streets and parks, reluctant to return indoors.
Local officials in Malatya also said there were no ‘negative developments’ to report at this stage, although the provincial governor said all primary and secondary schools would be closed for the day.
The USGS issued a Green alert for shaking-related fatalities, indicating a low likelihood of casualties.
A Yellow alert was issued for economic losses, indicating some damage is possible and the impact should be relatively localised.
It comes after a devastating earthquake struck Turkey and Syria last year, in the space of just 12 hours.
The first earthquake, measuring 7.8 magnitude, hit south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, and the second one struck four kilometres outside Ekinozu in central Turkey.
It was the most devastating to hit earthquake-prone Turkey in more than 20 years and was as strong as one in 1939, the most powerful recorded there.
Pictured: An aerial view of a destroyed building in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, 2023. The quake – which could be Turkey’s largest ever on record – was centred north of Gaziantep, Turkey, which is about 60 miles from the Syrian border and has a population of about 2 million
Pictured: A rescuer carried an injured child away from the rubble of a collapsed building in rebel-held Syria, following a deadly earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in 2023
People walked next to a mosque destroyed by an earthquake in Malatya in 2023
It struck at 04:17 am local time (0117 GMT) at a depth of about 11 miles, the US Geological Survey said at the time.
A strong 6.7 aftershock rumbled about 10 minutes later, causing more havoc.
Turkey’s own agency said 40 aftershocks were felt.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management agency said the earthquake killed scores of people across seven Turkish provinces.
A few weeks later, on the 20th February, another large earthquake, measuring 6.3M on the Richter scale, hit the region.
More than 55,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives in the quakes, while many more were injured and displaced.
Turkey is crossed by two major fault lines and earthquakes are frequent.
More than 17,000 people were also killed in a powerful earthquake in northwestern Turkey in 1999.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
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