A strong earthquake of magnitude of not more than 7.0 struck the Aegean Sea on Friday and was felt in both Turkey and Greece according to local and international journalists.
Residents flooded to the streets in the Turkish coastal city of Izmir after the earthquake, a witness confirmed. Footage from Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber disclosed a collapsed building in central Izmir.
H-Forbes gathered that no confirmed reports of casualties were available.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) had put the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.6, while the US Geological Survey reported that it was 7.0.
The earthquake struck at around 11:50 GMT and was felt along Turkey’s Aegean coast and the northwestern Marmara region reported, a local media.
The epicentre was 17km which is 11miles away from the coast of the Izmir province, at a depth of 16 km, AFAD confirmed.
The US geological Survey said the depth was 10km and the epi-centre was 33.5km off Turkey’s coast.
Citizens of Samos, an island with a 45,000 population were urged to stay away from coastal areas, head of Greece’s organisation for anti-seis-mic planing, Eftyhmios Lekkas disclosed this to Greece’s Skai TV.
“It was a very big earthquake, it’s difficult to have a bigger one,” Lekkas added.
The governor of Istanbul, Ali Yerlikaya, where the earthquake was also felt, stated that there were no negative reports.
