2024-04-19 00:48:25
A strong earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale shook central Turkey at 18:11 today, according to data from the European Mediterranean Seismological Center.
The earthquake had a depth of 8 km and an epicenter 8 km from the city of Sulusarai.
It was followed by four weaker tremors. 3.3 at 6:17 p.m., 1.7 at 6:21 p.m., followed by 3.5 at 6:30 p.m. and 2.2 6 minutes later.
“It shook so hard that we ran away from the houses,” wrote eyewitnesses.
So far, there is no information about injured people in the earthquake, which was also felt in the districts of Ankara, Kayseri, Karsehir, Nevsehir, Samsun, Yozgat, Sivas, Ordu, Çorum, Çankara, inform the Turkish media. Only material damage was done.
AFAD announced that a two-story house collapsed in Yozgat district, and in Sulusarai there were reports of damage to five agricultural buildings, NTV TV informed.
Tokat Mayor Kemal Yazdzooglu said two minarets collapsed and a number of houses were damaged in the district’s Buglaila village.
Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said that special teams are conducting a field survey to determine other damages, BTA reported.
Earlier today, there were two more strong tremors in the area. A 4.7 on the Richter scale rocked Sulusarai at 1:06 a.m., and an hour and a half aftershock of 4.1 on the Richter scale followed.
Meanwhile, a magnitude 3.9 earthquake was recorded this morning at 8:45 a.m. in southeastern Kahramanmaras district. Its epicenter was in the city of Goksun, and its depth was 11.35 km.
The Kahramanmaras district was the epicenter of the devastating earthquakes of February 6, 2012, in which more than 53 thousand people died.