Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hits western Turkiye, killing one

Turkiye’s interior curate said an 81-year-old idiosyncratic died aft being rescued from rubble by exigency teams.

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck northwestern Turkiye’s Balikesir state connected Sunday evening, sidesplitting astatine slightest 1 idiosyncratic and causing much than a twelve buildings to collapse, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

Four radical were pulled from the rubble of a collapsed house, 3 of whom are being treated successful hospital, portion 1 antheral died of his injuries. Yerlikaya said the lone unfortunate was an 81-year-old idiosyncratic who died aft being rescued from the rubble.

Nearly 30 radical were wounded successful the quake, which occurred astatine astir 7:53pm (16:53 GMT), Turkiye’s AFAD catastrophe absorption authorization said connected Sunday. Tremors were felt successful aggregate provinces, including the country’s biggest city, Istanbul.

The catastrophe authorization reported six aftershocks successful the archetypal hour, including 1 measuring 4.6, and urged citizens not to participate damaged buildings.

Yerlikaya, the interior minister, said hunt and rescue operations had ended and determination were nary different signs of superior harm oregon casualties. He stated that energy and h2o work had not been disrupted.

AFAD said the quake, with an epicentre successful the municipality of Sindirgi, struck astatine a extent of 11km (6.8 miles), portion the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) registered the earthquake’s magnitude astatine 6.19 and a extent of 10km (6.2 miles).

A pistillate sits adjacent the tract of a gathering (not pictured) that collapsed pursuing an earthquake successful Sindirgi, successful the occidental Balikesir province, Turkiye [Efekan Akyuz/Reuters]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a connection wishing each affected citizens a speedy recovery.

“May God support our state from immoderate benignant of disaster,” helium wrote connected X.

Turkiye lies connected aggregate responsibility lines, making it highly prone to earthquakes. Istanbul, a metropolis location to 16 million, is peculiarly vulnerable. In April of this year, a strong earthquake of magnitude 6.2 rocked the city. No casualties were reported.

In February 2023, duplicate quakes with a magnitude of 7.8 killed much than 53,000 radical successful Turkiye and different 6,000 successful neighbouring Syria.