A powerful earthquake has hit Greece and Turkey, bringing buildings crashing down and setting off tidal waves that slammed into coastal areas in the Turkish resort city of Izmir and in Greek Island Samos.
Crisscrossed by major fault lines, Turkey is among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
The Aegean Sea earthquake – of magnitude of 6.6 – has killed at least six people and injured more than hundred others.
Izmir mayor Tunc Soyer said around 20 buildings came down in the province.
Izmir’s governor said 70 people had been rescued from under the rubble.
Turkey’s Environment and Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum said people were trapped under the wreckage and rescue efforts were underway.
Izmir is the third biggest in Turkey with about 4.5 million residents.
Some damage was also reported on the Greek island of Samos, to buildings and the road network. The director of the hospital in Samos said four people were treated there for light injuries.
Turkish media said the earthquake was felt across the regions of Aegean and Marmara, including Istanbul. Istanbul’s governor said there were no reports of damage in the city, Turkey’s largest.
People crowded onto the streets in Izmir and stayed outside, riding out the aftershocks hours after the quake.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted that he was ready to help “with all the means available to our state”.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called Erdogan on Friday, offering condolences.
“Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together,” Mitsotakis wrote on Twitter.
On the Greek island of Samos, near the quake’s epicentre, people rushed out into the streets in panic.
“The walls of some houses have crumbled and several buildings are damaged,” the island’s deputy mayor Michalis Mitsios was quoted as saying by public broadcaster ERT.
“It was chaos,” added fellow deputy mayor Giorgos Dionysiou. “We have never experienced anything like this.”
The Greek civil protection agency told Samos’s residents in a text message to “stay out in the open and away from buildings”.
The island’s airport was also closed as a precaution.
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