Tsunami hits Turkey after magnitude 7 earthquake
The streets of a Turkish city are underwater after a deadly earthquake triggered a small tsunami.
There is heavy flooding in Izmir following a 7.0 magnitude quake that killed at least six people and left 200 injured.
Videos on social media show household items, including refrigerators, chairs and tables floating down the streets, as well as cars piled up.
Ismail Yetiskin, mayor of Izmir’s Seferihisar district, said sea levels rose as a result of the earthquake.
‘There seems to be a small tsunami,’ he told broadcaster NTV.
Huseyin Alan, head of Turkey’s Chamber of Geological Engineers, confirmed the quake triggered a small-scale tsunami in the Seferihisar district.
He warned people to stay away from buildings amid fears more could collapse.
One of those who died in Turkey had drowned, according to the country’s disaster management authority.
Two teenagers were also found dead on the Greek island of Samos, where a tsunami warning was also issued following the impact of the quake.
The young victims, a boy and a girl, were confirmed dead after being found unconscious in an area where a wall had collapsed.
The epicentre of the tremor was in the Aegean Sea, some 11 miles (17 km) off the coast of Turkey’s Western Izmir province, at a depth of 10 miles (16km).
The earthquake was felt across the region, including in Istanbul, the Greek islands, the Greek capital Athens and also in Bulgaria.
Izmir governor Yavuz Selim Kosger said at least 70 people had been rescued from the wreckage. He said more than 10 buildings had collapsed, while others were damaged.
Search and rescue efforts are continuing in at least 12 buildings.
Turkey’s health minister Fahrettin Koca said 38 ambulances, two helicopters and 35 medical rescue teams were working in Izmir.
Videos have been posted on social media appearing to show the moment when one multi-storey building collapsed.
Other footage shows local people scrambling over rubble looking for survivors.
Victims were also pictured being carried from the rubble of collapsed buildings, and smoke was filmed in several spots in central Izmir
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.9, with an epicentre 13 kilometres north-east of Samos, though the United States Geological Survey put the magnitude at 7.0.
It is common for preliminary magnitudes to differ in the early hours and days after a quake.
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