Dozens of people were killed and injured after a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 rocked the eastern Turkish province of Elazığ on Friday evening.
According to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the quake struck Elazığ's Sivrice district at 8:55 p.m. (1755 GMT) from a depth of 6.7 kilometers.
Soon after the initial quake, the province was shaken further by a series aftershocks ranging from between a magnitude 5.4 to 3.3.
According to initial reports, the earthquake was felt in provinces as far as southern Adana and northern Samsun, along with northern Syria and Iraq.
Speaking to the reporters, Interior Minister SüleymanSoylu initially announced the number of casualties as four but the the number was later announced as 14 by AFAD. Soylu said there were reports of injuries but did not provide a number. The minister also said several buildings collapsed or sustained damages following the tremor, Daily Sabah reports.
As current reports have it, around 230 people were injured in the earthquake, and about hundred buildings destroyed, with one of them having been engulfed by a massive blaze in central Elazığ.
The U.S. Geological Survey gave the preliminary magnitude as 6.7, with the quake affecting not only Turkey but also Syria, Georgia and Armenia.
Reportedly, Georgians are not among the victims of Turkey's deadly earthquake.
LATEST â Fire breaks out in central ElazıÄ; blaze reportedly caused by natural gas leakage due to earthquakehttps://t.co/XKFaVlfiRR pic.twitter.com/qXLE255v9A
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) January 24, 2020
