Status: 23.11.2022 09:05 a.m
North-west Turkey has been shaken by an earthquake. According to the interior minister, at least 50 people were injured. Panic reigned in the affected provincial capital Düzce.
A 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Turkey overnight. At least 50 people were injured, according to the Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. 33 of them have already been discharged from the hospital. One person was seriously injured, the broadcaster CNN Türk reported. She is said to have jumped out of the window out of panic and injured herself. There were initially no reports of fatalities.
The epicenter of the quake was in the Black Sea province of Düzce, according to the civil protection authority Afad. Even in the 16 million metropolis of Istanbul, about 200 kilometers away, and the Turkish capital Ankara, the tremors were felt around 4 a.m. local time. The US earthquake monitor USGS even reported a magnitude of 6.1. According to Afad, there were more than 100 aftershocks.
Mayor in Düzce reports panic
People slept wrapped in blankets in public places, as seen on TV footage. The mayor of the provincial capital of the same name, Düzce, Faruk Özlü, reported on the CNN Türk broadcaster that residents were panicking. The civil protection announced that the power supply in the region had been interrupted for control purposes. The authority called on everyone to remain calm.
The geography professor Fadime Sertcelik does not think it is very likely that the current tremors will trigger further earthquakes. The scientist also said this on CNN Türk.
People sit on the street after an earthquake in Düzce (Turkey).
Image: EPA
Majority of the population in constant danger of earthquakes
Few countries are hit by severe earthquakes more often than Turkey, where two of the largest continental plates meet: the African and the Eurasian. Most of the Turkish population lives in constant danger of earthquakes.
More than 100 people died in Izmir in October 2020 in one of the most serious earthquakes in recent years. In November 1999, around 900 people died in a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in the Düzce region. In September of the same year, Turkey was hit by one of the worst natural disasters in its history: a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in the region around the northwestern industrial city of Izmit claimed the lives of more than 17,000 people.
Experts are also expecting a strong earthquake in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, in the near future.