One dead, dozens injured in Turkey as quake hits Mediterranean coast

At least one person has died after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey’s west coast in the middle of the night.

The tremor shook the Mediterranean coastal town of Marmaris, Turkey’s disaster management agency said. Marmaris’ governor, Idris Akbiyik, said in a post on X that a 14-year-old girl was hospitalized with panic attacks and died shortly afterwards.

He said 69 people were injured after jumping from their homes during the tremor. 

The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said the earthquake was centered in the Mediterranean Sea and struck at 2.17 a.m. It was felt in neighboring regions, including in the Greek island of Rhodes, waking many from their sleep, Turkey’s NTV television reported.

According to Greek state-run broadcaster ERT, minor damage was reported on the island, but no injuries.

“We are in no way worried about these [kind of] earthquakes,” seismologist Efthymios Lekkas, head of the state-run Earthquake Risk Assessment Committee, told Mega channel. “This one was intense due to its depth, it covers a larger surface area, but the seismic waves do not have the energy they should have to see damage on the surface.”

Turkey sits on top of major fault lines and earthquakes are frequent.

In 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 53,000 people in Turkey and destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern provinces. Another 6,000 people were killed in the northern parts of neighbouring Syria.

Source: AP, Kathimerini