Turkey earthquake footage captures horrific moments as building collapses in Izmir; watch videos

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, October 31

At least eight buildings collapsed on Friday as a powerful earthquake struck Turkey's Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos, killing at least 27 people.

Buildings were seen toppling in Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, and triggering a small tsunami in the district of Seferihisar and on Samos. The quake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks.

Also read: Death toll reaches 27 in quake that hit Turkey, Greek island

Meanwhile, early on Saturday, onlookers cheered as rescuers lifted teenager Inci Okan out of the rubble of a devastated eight-floor apartment block in Izmir's Bayrakli district.         

Her dog, Fistik, was also rescued, Sozcu newspaper reported. Friends and relatives waited outside the building for news of loved ones still trapped inside, including employees of a dentist's surgery that was located on the ground floor.

In another collapsed building, rescuers made contact with a 38-year-old woman and her four children — aged 3, 7 and 10-year old twins — and were working to clear a corridor to bring them out, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Two other women, aged 53 and 35, were brought out from the rubble of another toppled two-story building earlier on Saturday.

In all, around 100 people have been rescued since the earthquake, Murat Kurum, the environment and urban planning minister, told reporters.

At least 25 people were killed in Izmir, including an elderly woman who drowned, according to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD.

The earthquake, which the Istanbul-based Kandilli Institute said had a magnitude of 6.9, was centred in the Aegean northeast of Samos. AFAD said it measured 6.6. and hit at a depth of some 16 kilometers (10 miles).

It was felt across the eastern Greek islands and as far as Athens and in Bulgaria. With inputs from Reuters