Death toll from Aegean Sea quake rises to 60, as rescuers hunt for survivors
Nov 1, 2020, 7:52 AM | Updated: 7:56 am
Members of security officers walk by the debris of a collapsed building in Izmir, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Rescue teams on Saturday ploughed through concrete blocs and debris of eight collapsed buildings in Turkey's third largest city in search of survivors of a powerful earthquake that struck Turkey's Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos, killing dozens Hundreds of others were injured. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
(AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
(CNN) — The powerful earthquake that hit the Aegean Sea on Friday has killed 58 people in Turkey, the country’s disaster agency said Sunday. Two people also died on the Greek island of Samos, Greek authorities said.
Rescue workers continue to search for survivors under the wreckage of eight buildings in the city of Izmir, in western Turkey.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Sunday there was “no clear number on how many people are still under rubble. Hard to give a number. There is an estimation, but I cannot share.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that 103 people had been rescued from the debris so far.
A total of 20 buildings were seriously damaged in Izmir by the tremor, according to Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer, the majority of them in the middle-class Bayrakli district.
At least 930 people have been injured in Turkey, 228 of whom are still being treated at hospitals, the country’s disaster agency said Sunday.
More than 900 aftershocks have been registered since the initial quake, 42 of them with a magnitude over 4.0, according to the agency.
Greek authorities said Friday that two teenagers, a boy and a girl, died on Samos after a wall collapsed on them.
The earthquake also triggered what authorities called a “mini tsunami,” causing streets to flood Friday in parts of Turkey’s wider Izmir province, as well as on Samos.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the tremor’s magnitude at 7.0, while Turkish authorities said it was 6.6. The quake struck 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) northeast of the town of Néon Karlovásion on Samos, the USGS reported.
It hit at a relatively shallow depth of 21 kilometers (13 miles), the USGS reported, making its impact powerfully felt at ground level around the epicenter.
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