© AFP
Search and rescue teams search the rumble of a collapsed building for survivors on October 31, 2020, in Izmir, after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey’s western coast and parts of Greece.

26 Dead, Buildings Collapse As Major Earthquake Hits Turkey, Greece

Rescuers dug through heavy blocks of concrete with their bare hands Saturday in a desperate search for survivors from a powerful earthquake that leveled buildings across Greece and Turkey, killing at least 26 people.

The quake struck late Friday afternoon, causing a mini-tsunami on the Aegean island of Samos and a sea surge that turned streets into rushing rivers in a town on Turkey's west coast.

The US Geological Survey said the 7.0 magnitude tremor hit 14 kilometres (nine miles) off the Greek town of Karlovasi on Samos.

Felt in both Istanbul and Athens, it also created a diplomatic opening for the two historic rivals, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis placing a rare call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer his condolences and support.

Hospital patients on the street

Much of the damage occurred in and around Turkey's Aegean resort city of Izmir, which has three million residents and is filled with high-rise apartment blocks.

Parts of entire apartments, including toys, pillows and shattered appliances, spilt out on the streets, where survivors huddled in tears, many too shocked to speak.

Aerial footage showed entire city blocks turned to rubble.

"I thought: Is it going to end? It felt like 10 minutes like it was never going to end," said Gokhan Kan, a 32-year-old courier.

"I was terrified not for myself in that moment but for my family, my wife and four-year-old son."

Izmir's mayor Tunc Soyer told CNN Turk that 20 buildings had collapsed, with officials focusing their rescue efforts on 17 of them.

Turkey's disaster relief agency reported 24 deaths and 800 injuries, while in Greece two teenagers died on their way home from school on Samos when a wall collapsed.

The scenes of devastation suggested the toll could rise.

One Izmir hospital rolled some of its patients — still strapped into their beds and hooked up to drips — out on the street as a precaution.

Turkey's religious affairs directorate opened its mosques to help shelter some of those left homeless by the disaster.

'Remain calm'

Images on social media showed water rushing through the streets of one of the towns near Izmir from an apparent sea surge.

Thick white plumes of smoke towered over various parts of the city where big buildings had collapsed.

Rescuers, helped by residents and sniffer dogs, used chainsaws to try to force their way through the rubble of one destroyed seven-floor building.

At another site, Agriculture Minister Bekir Pakdemirli managed to establish mobile phone contact with a girl buried under the debris.

"We ask you to remain calm," he told her in televised footage. "We will try to lift the concrete block and reach you."

NTV television said up to six people were trapped at the site, including the girl's cousin.

The region's governor said 70 people had been pulled out alive by Friday evening, although how many more were missing remained unknown by sunset.

Rescuers set up tents in a small park away from the cracked and damaged buildings for families to spend the night in safety and relative warmth.

"Because we live in Izmir, we have pretty warm weather, we can make it through today, we can make it through tomorrow," said Cemalettin Enginyurt, a retired soldier. "But we can't think of anything on the long term, we are helpless."

- 'Earthquake Diplomacy' -

On the Greek island of Samos, near the quake's epicentre, people rushed out into the streets in panic.

"It was chaos," said deputy mayor Giorgos Dionysiou. "We have never experienced anything like this."

The Greek civil protection agency told Samos residents in a text message to "stay out in the open and away from buildings".

Greece and Turkey are situated in one of the world's most active earthquake zones.

The two neighbours also suffer from historically poor relations despite both being members of the NATO military alliance.

But the quake saw a spurt of what pundits immediately termed "earthquake diplomacy", with calls exchanged by their foreign ministers and then, hours later, the Greek prime minister and Erdogan.

"Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together," Mitsotakis said on Twitter.

"Thank you, Mr Prime Minister," Erdogan tweeted in reply. "That two neighbours show solidarity in difficult times is more valuable than many things in life."

The US State Department said Washington was "heartened" by the newfound cooperation.

France, whose President Emmanuel Macron has sparred repeatedly with Erdogan in the past year, said it stood in "full solidarity" with the two countries.

In 1999, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey's northwest, killing more than 17,000 people, including 1,000 in Istanbul.

In Greece, the last deadly quake killed two people on the island of Kos, near Samos, in July 2017.

70-year-old pulled out alive in Turkey as quake toll hits 60

Rescue workers extricated a 70-year-old man from a collapsed building in western Turkey on Sunday, some 34 hours after a strong earthquake in the Aegean Sea struck Turkey and Greece, killing at least 60 people and injuring more than 900.

© Darko Bandic
Members of rescue services search in the debris of a collapsed building for survivors in Izmir, Turkey, early Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020.

It was the latest series of remarkable rescues after the Friday afternoon earthquake, which was centered in the Aegean northeast of the Greek island of Samos. Search-and-rescue teams were working in nine toppled or damaged buildings in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, but appeared to be finding more bodies Sunday than survivors.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the death toll Sunday in Izmir to 58. Two teenagers were killed Friday on Samos and at least 19 others were injured.

There was some debate over the magnitude of the earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey rated it 7.0, while the Istanbul's Kandilli Institute put it at 6.9 and Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said it measured 6.6.

Ahmet Citim, 70, was pulled out of the rubble in the middle of the night and was hospitalized. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that Citim said: "I never lost hope." The minister visited the survivor and said he was doing well.

The quake triggered a small tsunami that hit Samos and the Seferihisar district of Izmir, drowning one elderly woman. The tremors were felt across western Turkey, including in Istanbul, as well as in the Greek capital of Athens. Hundreds of aftershocks followed. Turkey's disaster agency said 920 people were injured in Turkey alone.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said 26 badly damaged buildings would be demolished.

"It's not the earthquake that kills but buildings," he added, repeating a common slogan.

Turkey has a mix of older buildings and cheap or illegal construction, which can lead to serious damage and deaths when earthquakes hit. Regulations have been tightened in light of earthquakes to strengthen or demolish buildings and urban renewal is underway in Turkish cities but it is not happening fast enough.

Two destroyed apartment buildings in Izmir where much of the rescues are taking place had received reports of "decay" in 2012 and 2018, according to the municipal agency in charge of such certificates. Turkish media including the Hurriyet newspaper said one of the buildings, which was built in 1993, was at risk of earthquake damage because of its low quality concrete and the lack of reinforcements. However, the building continued to be occupied.

Turkey's justice minister said prosecutors had begun investigating several collapsed buildings and promised legal repercussions if experts identified neglect.

AFAD said nearly 6,400 personnel had been activated for rescue work and hundreds of others for food distribution, emergency help and building damage control.

Turkey is criss-crossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. In 1999, two powerful quakes killed some 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey. Earthquakes are frequent in Greece as well.

In a rare show of unity amid months of tense relations over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek and Turkish government officials have issued mutual messages of solidarity over the quake toll.

The quake occurred as Turkey was already struggling with an economic downturn and the coronavirus pandemic. So far, Turkey has more than 10,000 confirmed virus deaths but some experts have accused the government of concealing the true impact of the virus with the way it counts infections.

Turkey: Death toll from earthquake rises to 92

In Aegean city of Izmir, 994 people injured in magnitude 6.6 quake, says country's disaster management authority

The death toll in Turkey from a powerful earthquake in the Aegean region has risen to 92, the country's disaster agency said Monday.

Some 1,323 aftershocks have hit the area since the Friday quake, with 43 of them above magnitude 4.0, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said.

It added that 994 people were injured, with 847 of them discharged from hospitals and 147 still being treated.

Speaking at a news conference Monday in the Aegean Izmir province, Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum updated the number of heavily damaged and destroyed buildings to 58.

With quake victims facing cold weather, Kurum called on them to seek shelter at local guesthouses.

"We began the process for setting up a container city. We will establish a container city with a capacity to host 1,000 people on an area of 46,300 square meters [498,000 square feet] in the Bayrakli district," he added.

On Friday, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, with a population of some 4.37 million.

More aid coming

Family, Labor and Social Services Minister Zehra Zumrut Selcuk also urged quake victims to take shelter at public guesthouses, which she said have a capacity of 7,000, which can be increased if needed.

She added that 5 million Turkish liras (some $595,000) in additional aid is being added to 5 million Turkish liras sent to the region on Friday by her ministry.

So far, 1,864 tents have been installed, with 2,038 currently being set up.

Temporary accommodations have been established to meet the urgent need for shelter in the city, with over 3,500 tents, some 24,400 blankets, 13,300 beds, 5,500 sleeping sets, 2,600 kitchen sets, and four showers and toilet containers shipped to the area, the disaster agency said.

So far, over 105 people have been pulled from the debris as search and rescue efforts continue.

Elif Perincek, a three-year-old girl, was pulled from debris in Bayrakli on Monday nearly 65 hours after the quake.

Idil Sirin, a 14-year-old girl, was also recovered from the rubble 58 hours after the tremor and taken to a local hospital.

Turkey, situated on several active fault lines, is among the world's most seismically active zones. It has suffered devastating earthquakes in previous years, including the 1999 Marmara quake.

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