Turkish officials said that in Eastern Turkey, an earthquake measuring 6.8 points, which killed at least 22 people, dozens of people were under the rubble, thousands injured.
The region affected by the earthquake, is located 550 km East of Ankara. It is a sparsely populated area, and information about the victims specified.
According to the USGS, about half a million people felt tremors from an earthquake measuring 6.8 points, which occurred in the Eastern part of Turkey. A powerful earthquake on Friday night caused the collapse of buildings.
DEVELOPING: Magnitude 6.7 earthquake strikes eastern Turkey, the USGS says. pic.twitter.com/mP0IISZvoR
— NBC World News (@NBCNewsWorld) January 24, 2020
According to the Minister of internal Affairs of Turkey Suleyman Soylu, the epicenter of the earthquake was the city of Sivrice in the Eastern province of Elazig.
President of Department for disaster management and emergencies (AFAD) said the earthquake occurred in the region shortly before 21:00 local time (18:00 GMT) at a depth of 6.7 km. this was followed by several aftershocks, the strongest of them estimated at 5.4 and 5.1 points.
In the repeated statement made by the AFAD indicated that the total number of aftershocks amounted to 118 .
«The death toll in the earthquake in Elazig increased to 18, 405 people were injured in [the province of] elazığ and another 148 people in [the neighbouring province] Malatya. We make every effort to rescue 30 people trapped under the ruined building», — said the Minister of internal Affairs Suleyman Soylu.
Later it became known that the number of victims has increased to 22 and the number of victims exceeded a thousand.
In the center of Elazığ had been a fire caused by a leak of natural gas in an earthquake.
LATEST — Fire breaks out in central Elazığ; blaze reportedly caused by natural gas leakage due to earthquakehttps://t.co/XKFaVlfiRR pic.twitter.com/qXLE255v9A
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) January 24, 2020
State television showed footage of emergency service personnel, sift the rubble of partially destroyed buildings in Elazig.
LATEST — First responders carry out search and rescue operations at site of collapsed buildings in Elazığ after the earthquakehttps://t.co/XKFaVlfiRR pic.twitter.com/B5oOxXEwWs
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) January 24, 2020
This earthquake is the latest of a long history of devastating quakes that struck Turkey over the last 20 years.
In August 1999, an earthquake of 7.6-magnitude has killed more than 17,000 people in the Western city of Izmit, as a result of the 2011 earthquake in the Eastern city of van died 523.
Video shows destruction in what appears to be Elazığ, Turkey after 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region. #Elazig — pic.twitter.com/hisCgbEERf
— Hatice ‘Deniz’ AVCI (@HaticeDenizAVCI) January 24, 2020
According to the U.S. Geological survey (USGS), the earthquake occurred at a relatively shallow depth, increasing jitter on the surface. The earthquake was felt in other countries, including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
According to initial USGS, the destruction of the «relatively localized».
