A magnitude-5.9 earthquake struck northwest Turkey in the early hours of Wednesday, injuring at least forty-six people.
The shallow tremor struck about 170 kilometers (105 miles) east of Istanbul, the country’s largest city, where strong tremors were felt.
National authorities said the quake was at a magnitude of 5.9, and its epicenter was in Düzce province’s Gölyaka district, though it also affected other nearby cities.
BREAKING: #BNNTurkey Reports
A 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck western Turkey.
According to Turkey's Disaster & Emergency Management Authority (@AFADTurkey), 46 people were injured & the epicenter of the tremor was in #Gölyaka, a district in the northwestern province of #Düzce. pic.twitter.com/roRt7RHRxm
— Gurbaksh Singh Chahal (@gchahal) November 23, 2022
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who visited Gölyaka, said one person was seriously hurt after jumping from a balcony out of panic.
He said seventy aftershocks had been recorded.
📍 Gölyaka ilçesindeki deprem nedeniyle Düzce'deki Gaziantep Caddesi'nde bazı iş yerlerinde hasar oluştu
🎥 Anadolu Ajansı ekibi hasar gören iş yerlerinden canlı yayın yaptığı sırada artçı sarsıntı meydana geldi https://t.co/Iv2ybEITfC pic.twitter.com/l6eOYxzaDW
— ANADOLU AJANSI (@anadoluajansi) November 23, 2022
Initial images showed people covered in blankets outside their homes during the early morning.
Some were seen placing blankets on the floor outside and lighting fires for warmth.
Authorities said schools would be closed on Wednesday in the provinces of Düzce and Sakarya.
Soylu said that, apart from a few ruined barns, there were no reports of heavy damage or building collapses, but inspections were continuing.
Turkey is in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones
Düzce was one of the regions hit by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in 1999, the worst to hit Türkiye in decades.
That quake killed more than seventeen thousand people, including about a thousand in Istanbul.
Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate Istanbul, which has allowed widespread sonstruction without safety precautions.
A magnitude-6.8 quake hit Elazığ in January 2020, killing more than forty people.
In November of that same year, a magnitude-7.0 quake hit the Aegean Sea, killing 114 people and wounding more than a thousand. Two people also died on the Greek island of Samos.
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