Earthquake shakes eastern Turkey, no casualties reported

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 struck eastern Turkey’s Malatya province on Wednesday, the country’s disaster and emergency management authority (AFAD) said.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

AFAD said the quake occurred at 10:46 a.m.(0746 GMT) with its epicentre in the district of Kale, some 40 km (25 miles) east of the city of Malatya. “Our teams are on alert and field scanning operations are ongoing,” it added.

The quake was also felt in Syria’s Hasakah, Deir al-Zor and Aleppo provinces, the country’s state news agency said.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the quake had a 6.1 magnitude and was at a depth of 9 km (5.6 miles) below the earth.

AFAD reported that 30 aftershocks occurred following the earthquake, with the tremors ranging from 1.2 to 3 magnitude.

Malatya Governor Seddar Yavuz stated in his statement that no negative news has reached the institutions so far.

Yavuz said that all of the severely damaged buildings in the city, except for those under trial, had already been demolished, and that the buildings awaiting the court stage for demolition had also been evacuated.

Yavuz said, "We have also seen some images on social media of a building collapsing, but these are images from a building that we demolished in a controlled manner. Therefore, we kindly request that unverified images that will cause panic among our citizens are not published."

Noting that field scans are ongoing, Yavuz said, "According to the information we have received so far, there is no loss of life or injury, but there are reports of panicked citizens."

Asking people to stay away from damaged and evacuated buildings, Yavuz announced that schools were closed for today as a precaution.

Governor Yavuz, who later went to Kale district to examine the field work and conveyed his get well wishes to the citizens, told AA correspondent that the field work was still ongoing.

Stating that it was a source of happiness that there was no loss of life, Yavuz said, "We convey our wishes for a speedy recovery to all our citizens. In this context, there were citizens who were affected by the panic. A friend of ours who jumped from the 2nd floor, from the balcony, is in the hospital, his condition is good. We have a friend who rolled down the stairs. There are 4 of our siblings in total. I wish a speedy recovery to these siblings as well."