A strong earthquake struck on Friday between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, collapsing several buildings in Turkeys western Izmir province and leaving at least 37 people dead.Rescuers dug through heavy blocks of concrete with their bare hands on Saturday in a desperate search for survivors from a powerful earthquake that levelled buildings across Greece and Turkey, killing at least 26 people.
The quake struck late on Friday afternoon, causing a mini-tsunami on the Aegean island of Samos and a sea surge that turned streets into rushing rivers in a town on Turkey's west coast.
The US Geological Survey said the 7.0 magnitude tremor hit 14 kilometres off the Greek town of Karlovasi on Samos.
Felt in both Istanbul and Athens, it also created a diplomatic opening for the two historic rivals, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis placing a rare call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer his condolences and support.
Dozens more were injured, while some damage to buildings and the road network, and four light injuries were also reported on Samos.
Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that four people were killed in Izmir and 120 were injured. He said 38 ambulances, two ambulance helicopters and 35 medical rescue teams were working in Izmir.People flooded to the streets in the Turkish coastal city of Izmir after the earthquake struck, witnesses said
Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) put the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.6, while the United States Geological Survey said it was 7.0. It struck at around 1150 GMT and was felt along Turkey's Aegean coast and the northwestern Marmara region, media said.
The epicentre was some 17 kilometres off the coast of the Izmir province, at a depth of 16 km, AFAD said. The US Geological Survey said the depth was 10 km and that the epicentre was 33.5km off Turkey's coast.
Residents of Samos, an island with a population of about 45,000, were urged to stay away from coastal areas, Eftyhmios Lekkas, head of Greece's organisation for anti-seismic planning, told Greece's Skai TV.
“It was a very big earthquake, it's difficult to have a bigger one,” said Lekkas.
Ali Yerlikaya, the governor of Istanbul, where the quake was also felt, said there were no negative reports.
Hospital patients on street
Much of the damage occurred in and around Turkey's Aegean resort city of Izmir, which has three million residents and is filled with high-rise apartment blocks.
Parts of entire apartments, including toys, pillows and shattered appliances, spilled out on the streets, where survivors huddled in tears, many too shocked to speak.
Aerial footage showed entire city blocks turned to rubble.
“I thought: Is it going to end? It felt like 10 minutes, like it was never going to end,” said Gokhan Kan, a 32-year-old courier. “I was terrified not for myself in that moment but for my family, my wife and four-year-old son.”
Izmir's mayor Tunc Soyer told CNN Turk that 20 buildings had collapsed, with officials focusing their rescue efforts on 17 of them.
Turkey's disaster relief agency reported 24 deaths and 800 injuries, while in Greece two teenagers died on their way home from school on Samos when a wall collapsed.
The scenes of devastation suggested the toll could rise.
One Izmir hospital rolled some of its patients — still strapped into their beds and hooked up to drips — out on the street as a precaution.
Turkey's religious affairs directorate opened its mosques to help shelter some of those left homeless by the disaster.
Remain calm
Images on social media showed water rushing through the streets of one of the towns near Izmir from an apparent sea surge.
Thick white plumes of smoke towered over various parts of the city where big buildings had collapsed.
Rescuers, helped by residents and sniffer dogs, used chainsaws to try to force their way through the rubble of one destroyed seven-floor building.
At another site, Agriculture Minister Bekir Pakdemirli managed to establish mobile phone contact with a girl buried under the debris.
“We ask you to remain calm,” he told her in televised footage. “We will try to lift the concrete block and reach you.” NTV television said up to six people were trapped at the site, including the girl's cousin.
The region's governor said 70 people had been pulled out alive by Friday evening, although how many more were missing remained unknown by sunset.
Rescuers set up tents in a small park away from the cracked and damaged buildings for families to spend the night in safety and relative warmth.
“Because we live in Izmir, we have pretty warm weather, we can make it through today, we can make it through tomorrow,” said Cemalettin Enginyurt, a retired soldier. “But we can't think of anything on the long term, we are helpless.”
'Earthquake diplomacy'
On the Greek island of Samos, near the quake's epicentre, people rushed out into the streets in panic.
“It was chaos,” said deputy mayor Giorgos Dionysiou. “We have never experienced anything like this.”
The Greek civil protection agency told Samos residents in a text message to “stay out in the open and away from buildings”.
Greece and Turkey are situated in one of the world's most active earthquake zones. The two neighbours also suffer from historically poor relations despite both being members of the Nato military alliance.
But the quake saw a spurt of what pundits immediately termed “earthquake diplomacy”, with calls exchanged by their foreign ministers and then, hours later, the Greek prime minister and Erdogan.
“Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together,” Mitsotakis said on Twitter.
“Thank you, prime minister,” Erdogan tweeted in reply. “That two neighbours show solidarity in difficult times is more valuable than many things in life.”
Rescuers raced against the clock to save people trapped under rubble in Turkey and Greece on Saturday as anguished mourners buried the first victims of a powerful earthquake that claimed 37 lives.The7.0 magnitude quake killed 35 people and injured nearly 900 in Turkey after striking on Friday afternoon near the west coast town of Seferihisar in Izmir province.
Also killing two teenagers on their way home from school in Greece, it caused a mini-tsunami on the Aegean island of Samos and a sea surge that turned streets into rushing rivers in one Turkish coastal town.
Turkish authorities registered nearly 600 aftershocks, dozens of them stronger than 4.0 magnitude, complicating the search for those believed to still be breathing under mountains of concrete debris.
In Bayrakli, near the Turkish coastal resort city of Izmir that was heaviest hit, families and friends looked on in agony, exhaustion and hope as workers painstakingly lifted slabs of flattened apartment blocks.
Jubilation, relief and tears of joy greeted every recovered survivor. Cries of pain accompanied black bags holding bodies removed from the disaster zone.
"Let me see who it is!" one man shouted.
In small green spaces close to the damaged buildings, tents went up for frightened families to spend the night.
"It was so cold last night,"said Nilgun Yikariz, 59, who was sleeping on the grass in a small tent outside her destroyed apartment.
Following the earthquake, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said all government institutes had sprung into action to help the city. “We stand with all our citizens affected by the earthquake with all means possible. All our respective institution and ministers have been mobilised,” he said. Meanwhile, the entire political leadership of Pakistan Saturday expressed heartfelt grief over the loss of life in the Turkish quake. Expressing immense grief and sorrow, Prime Minister Imran Khan extended condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the people of Turkey for the loss of precious lives in the quake. In a tweet, the premier offered any help that Ankara might need during these testing times as he recalled Turkey’s all-out support during the devastating earthquake that hit the northern areas of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir back in 2005. Former president Asif Zardari expressed deep grief for the government and people of Turkey over the destruction caused by the quake in Izmir and condoled with the bereaved families.
