Aller au contenu principal

Moderate quake jolts eastern Turkey, causes damage

Pays
Türkiye
Sources
Reuters
Date de publication

ISTANBUL, March 14 (Reuters) - An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rattled eastern Turkey early on Monday, causing some damage but there were no reported casualties.

Aid workers began distributing tents and locals lit fires to ward off freezing weather in the affected Bingol province, which was hit two days earlier by a similar quake, Anatolian news agency said.

The Kandilli observatory in Istanbul said the tremor struck at 3:55 a.m. (0155 GMT) and its epicentre was in the Karliova district.

Local officials reported damage to buildings in outlying villages and said the Red Crescent aid organisation had sent 100 tents, heaters, stoves and blankets to the province.

Early on Saturday a quake, centred in Bingol and measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, toppled some 20 houses in one village. It caused no serious injuries.

Small and moderate earthquakes are a near daily occurrence in Turkey, which is crisscrossed with seismic faultlines. A powerful quake measuring 7.4 devastated areas of northwestern Turkey in 1999, killing more than 17,000 people.