A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck northwestern Turkiye’s Balikesir province on Sunday evening, killing at least one person and causing more than a dozen buildings to collapse, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
Four people were pulled from the rubble of a collapsed house, three of whom are being treated in hospital, while one man died of his injuries. Yerlikaya said the lone victim was an 81-year-old person who died after being rescued from the rubble.
Nearly 30 people were wounded in the quake, which occurred at about 7:53pm (16:53 GMT), Turkiye’s AFAD disaster management authority said on Sunday. Tremors were felt in multiple provinces, including the country’s biggest city, Istanbul.
The disaster authority reported six aftershocks in the first hour, including one measuring 4.6, and urged citizens not to enter damaged buildings.
Yerlikaya, the interior minister, said search and rescue operations had ended and there were no other signs of serious damage or casualties. He stated that electricity and water service had not been disrupted.
AFAD said the quake, with an epicentre in the town of Sindirgi, struck at a depth of 11km (6.8 miles), while the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) registered the earthquake’s magnitude at 6.19 and a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).
A woman sits near the site of a building (not pictured) that collapsed following an earthquake in Sindirgi, in the western Balikesir province, Turkiye [Efekan Akyuz/Reuters]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement wishing all affected citizens a speedy recovery.
“May God protect our country from any kind of disaster,” he wrote on X.
Turkiye lies on multiple fault lines, making it highly prone to earthquakes. Istanbul, a metropolis home to 16 million, is particularly vulnerable. In April of this year, a strong earthquake of magnitude 6.2 rocked the city. No casualties were reported.
In February 2023, twin quakes with a magnitude of 7.8 killed more than 53,000 people in Turkiye and another 6,000 in neighbouring Syria.
