A moderately strong earthquake struck the western Turkish province of Izmir early Friday, causing panic among residents and toppling the minaret of a mosque, officials said. One person was killed and several people were hurt while trying to escape their homes in a panic.
The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said the magnitude 4.9 earthquake was centered in Izmir’s Buca district and struck at 3:29 a.m. The quake was followed by several aftershocks and was felt in surrounding areas. Izmir Mayor Tunç Soyer said there were no reports of major damage other than the toppled minaret. “Apart from the panic, fear, alarm caused to our residents, we have not received any negative reports,” Soyer told HaberTurk television.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu flew to Izmir to inspect the search and rescue work and damage after the earthquake. Soylu told reporters that 31 people sought hospital assistance due to panic and three were in treatment while another was in intensive care. Earlier, Soylu tweeted that some people were injured when jumping out of the windows of their homes at the time of the earthquake. He said some 20 buildings had cracks after the earthquake and they received calls about damage to some buildings, noting that crews from the Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change were working to inspect the exact damage from the tremors.
An 18-year-old university student, who jumped out of the window of his first-story apartment in a panic, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
Soylu underlined that Izmir's "building stock is in need of immediate change," pointing out that old buildings are more susceptible to earthquake damage. "Otherwise, we may have a more difficult experience in case of (a stronger earthquake). An earthquake at a higher magnitude may have worrying consequences," he said. Professor Orhan Tatar, head of the Directorate of Earthquake and Risk Reduction who accompanied Soylu, said there may be more aftershocks, with magnitudes as high as 4.0, and urged the public to be cautious. AFAD announced earlier that 13 aftershocks, the highest at a magnitude of 2.4, were recorded in the area. Tatar told reporters that Izmir is surrounded by some 18 active fault lines and the latest tremors were in the northeast tip of a fault line that travels from the Gaziemir district to the Gulf of Doğanbey. "The public should not panic but we always have to be vigilant against a potential earthquake," he said.
Speaking to Demirören News Agency (DHA), professor Hasan Sözbilir, who heads an earthquake research center at Izmir's Dokuz Eylül University, said the fault line under Buca is active but cannot generate an earthquake with a magnitude bigger than 6.0.
The temblor occurred days after Izmir commemorated the victims of a magnitude 6.6 earthquake that claimed the lives of 117 people on Oct. 30, 2020. Türkiye sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Türkiye in 1999.
