At least 35 injured in earthquake in western Turkey Pope fires entire leadership of Caritas Internationalis

An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale shook northwestern Turkey on Wednesday night. The number of injured rose to at least 35 people, according to civil protection Afad. One person was seriously injured, broadcaster CNN Türk reports. She would have jumped out of the window in panic and injured herself.

The earthquake’s epicenter was in Düzce province on the Black Sea, as Afad announced. The tremors were felt around 4 a.m. local time even in the 16 million metropolis of Istanbul, some 200 kilometers away, and in the Turkish capital Ankara. According to Afad, there were more than 70 aftershocks. People slept wrapped in blankets in public places, as shown on TV footage.

The mayor of the provincial capital of the same name, Düzce, Faruk Özlü, reported on CNN Türk that the residents panicked. Civil protection announced that the power supply in the region had been cut for monitoring purposes. The authority called on everyone to remain calm.

Few countries are more affected by strong earthquakes than Turkey, where two of the largest continental plates meet: the African and the Eurasian. In fact, most of the Turkish population lives in constant danger from earthquakes.

In October 2020, more than 100 people died in Izmir in one of the strongest earthquakes in recent years. In November 1999, about 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 also expect a strong earthquake in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, in the near future.

However, geography professor Fadime Sertcelik does not think it very likely that the current quakes will trigger further earthquakes. That’s what the scientist from CNN Türk said. (aeg/sda/dpa)