Rescue workers have extricated a 70-year-old man from a collapsed building in western Turkey after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey and Greece on Friday, killing at least 86 people and injuring more than 900.
Ahmet Citim, 70, was rescued from the rubble shortly after midnight on Sunday and is doing well at hospital, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.Turkish authorities reported more deaths on Sunday, bringing the toll to 62, all in Izmir, while two teenagers died on the Greek island of Samos.
The man, identified as Ahmet Citim, was rescued from the rubble of the residential “Riza Bey” building, one of the 20 residencies that collapsed during the earthquake.
The Turkish province of Izmir was shaken by an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 which struck the country's Aegean coast and Greek islands on Friday. The quake 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.Officials said 20 buildings were destroyed in Izmir's Bayrakli district which was in the process of urban transformation due to lack of earthquake resistance. Rescue workers are still trying to save people trapped under the debris.
Rescue and emergency teams have been working through the wrecked buildings for two days and President Tayyip Erdogan said his government was “determined to heal the wounds of our brothers and sisters in Izmir before the cold and rains begin.”
More than 3,000 tents and 13,000 beds have been supplied to provide temporary shelter, according to Turkey’s disasters and emergency agency AFAD, which said 940 people had been injured in Friday’s earthquake.
More than 700 victims have so far been discharged from hospitals, while eight remain in intensive care, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
Turkey is crossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. In 1999, two powerful quakes killed 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey.
The Friday earthquake, which the Istanbul-based Kandilli Institute said had a magnitude of 6.9, was centered in the Aegean Sea, northeast of Samos.
President Erdogan said 885 people had been injured, 15 of them critically.
'I will play violin for you'
Sixteen-year-old Inci Okan was trapped under the rubble of the same eight-story building as the elderly man before being rescued 17 hours after the strong quake, along with her dog Fistik (Pistachio).
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) member Edanur Dogan visited Okan at hospital.
Emergency worker Dogan had held the girl's hand while rescue teams removed the debris above her.
“I am very happy. Thankfully my father was not at home. My father couldn't fit there. He would hurt his head. I am tiny. I am short so I squeezed in and that's how I was rescued. We stayed home with my dog. Both of us are well,” Okan said from her hospital bed.
Okan promised to play the violin for Dogan after being discharged from hospital.
“I will play the violin for you, I promise.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and offered condolences and "all possible support and assistance" to Turkey.
According to a statement by the PM Office, the prime minister had assured President Erdogan that Pakistanis will stand by their "Turkish brothers and sisters" just like Turkey stood by Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake.“Rescue workers are trying to hear a signal of life of survivors under the debris. They say about 40 people were stuck under the rubble but some have been rescued and others died. The longer time passes, the less chance there is of finding victims,” she said.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said 26 badly damaged buildings would be demolished. “It’s not the earthquake that kills but buildings,” he added, repeating a common slogan.
Turkey has a mix of older buildings and cheap or illegal construction, which can lead to serious damage and deaths when earthquakes hit. Regulations have been tightened in light of earthquakes to strengthen or demolish buildings and urban renewal is under way in Turkish cities but it is not happening fast enough.
Turkey’s justice minister said prosecutors had begun investigating several collapsed buildings and promised legal repercussions if experts identified neglect.
The Friday earthquake, which the US Geological Survey said had a magnitude of 7.0, was centred in the Aegean northeast of Samos island. AFAD said it hit at a depth of some 16km (10 miles).
A small tsunami was triggered in the Seferihisar district of Izmir, drowning one elderly woman, and on the Greek island.
