A series of earthquakes of varying intensity, up to 5.6 for the strongest, shook central Turkey on Thursday without causing any casualties but placing the region on alert, authorities reported. At least three tremors were felt late in the day and early in the evening in the Tokat region, between the shores of the Black Sea and northern Anatolia, one of which had an intensity of 5.6 a injured one person and caused material damage, reported Health Minister Charretin Coca. “Intervention vehicles and ambulances were dispatched to the scene”indicated the minister on the X network.
Local news agency AHI reported five injuries among panicked residents trying to flee their homes. This latest earthquake was particularly felt in the large coastal city of Samsun, where no casualties were reported. Interior Minister Ali Verlikaya said “monitor the situation” while the governor of Tokat district, where the epicenter was located, and a delegation from Afad, the Turkish government relief agency, visited the scene. According to Afad, the epicenter was 5.25 km underground and the tremor, followed by three aftershocks, was also felt in the region’s main city, Sivas.
North Anatolian fault
The first tremor occurred before dawn on Thursday in the village of Yozgat, in the same region, at 2:25 a.m. All the tremors and their aftershocks were recorded at a depth of less than 6 km, Afad said. In several districts of the region, governors have decided to close schools for 24 hours and open sports centers and institutional centers to make them available to residents preferring to evacuate their homes.
The entire region is located on the North Anatolian Fault, which runs along northern Anatolia and is particularly active, considered to pose a major earthquake risk. The south and south-east of Turkey were hit on February 6, 2023 at 4:17 a.m. by a violent 7.4 earthquake which caused the death of 56,000 people, according to the official report.