Houses damaged after earthquake in central Turkey

KAYSERİ

The Sarıoğlan district of the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri was hit by a magnitude 4.9 earthquake early on Jan. 19.

“The earthquake occurred at a depth of 23.7 kilometers at 02.28 a.m.,” the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) announced.

No casualties were reported, however, two people have been hospitalized after having panic attacks. Local officials declared “minor damages” with cracks on the houses and the walls of some stables collapsing.

“The people living in the houses with cracks were evacuated and accommodated in the state guesthouse. Engineers are also monitoring the risks at these houses,” the governor of the province, Memduh Büyükkılıç, who visited the district, told Demirören News Agency.

“We woke up after a tremor. We quickly ran out of the house. We have damages on the walls. Thankfully, nobody has been injured,” Ali Akbulut, a local, said.

Sarıoğlan experienced some 21 aftershocks on Jan. 19, with the strongest of magnitude measuring at 3.8.

“Central Anatolia is a zone with earthquake risks. We have witnessed tremors in Niğde and Konya previously,” said Şükrü Ersoy, a professor from the Yıldız Technical University.

“There may be new earthquakes with magnitudes 5 or 6, maybe 7. We have to monitor the region,” he added.

The Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute in Istanbul also reported two other earthquakes below magnitude 4 in two regions.

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake jolted the southern province of Adana and a magnitude 3.6 tremor jolted the Gemlik district of the northwestern province of Bursa.

The recent earthquakes in the Aegean and the Mediterranean Seas also became new topics of discussion in the country.

“The latest tremor in Greece is the last straw for an earthquake risk in the Marmara region,” a prominent expert, Naci Görür, said and added: “The stress on the fault line heads toward Turkey.”

The officials of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which is under construction in the southern province of Mersin, made a statement on Jan. 19 about the public’s concerns. “The structure is resistant to a magnitude 9 earthquake,” it said.