The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Department said on the 4th that the department has finished its search and rescue work after the earthquake, and the death toll has risen to 116, of which 114 were killed in Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey.
Rescuers have been searching for survivors in 17 collapsed or damaged buildings in Izmir in recent days.
After the earthquake occurred on October 30, rescuers rescued a total of 107 people. Among them, a 4-year-old girl was rescued 90 hours after the earthquake and was called a miracle by the local media.
The island of Samos in eastern Greece previously reported two deaths in the earthquake. Another 1,035 people were injured in Turkey, of which 137 were still hospitalized.
The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Department has set up nearly 3,000 tents to solve the temporary resettlement problem for tens of thousands of people.
Turkish Vice President Fuad Oktay said that illegal buildings that did not meet seismic standards and the collapse of old buildings were the main causes of deaths and injuries caused by the earthquake.
Reuters reported that about 20 buildings in the Bayrakli district of Izmir were destroyed by the earthquake. The area in which they are located belongs to an urban reconstruction zone designated by the government.
A strong earthquake occurred in the Aegean Sea off the island of Samos in western Turkey and eastern Greece on October 30. The magnitudes measured by different agencies differ.
The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Department determined the earthquake to be 6.6 magnitude, Istanbul’s Candili Earthquake Research Institute measured 6.9 magnitude, and the US Geological Survey measured 7.0 magnitude.
The earthquake was felt at the time in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, and Athens, the capital of Greece. After the main shock, about 1,700 aftershocks occurred. The earthquake triggered a small tsunami in the Seferihisar area off the coast of Samos and Izmir province.
Turkey is located in an earthquake-prone zone. In 1999, two consecutive earthquakes of magnitude 7 or higher occurred in northwestern Turkey, causing approximately 18,000 deaths. In 2011, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred in the Van province of eastern Turkey, killing 644 people.
In January of this year, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake occurred in Elazig province in eastern Turkey, killing dozens of people.
