A powerful earthquake struck north of the Greek island of Samos on Friday, causing death and destruction both on the island and in neighboring Turkey.
Turkish officials said 20 people had died and 786 were injured. Two teenagers were killed on Samos, where structures including a church, buildings, homes and roads sustained visible damage on Samos. In Izmir, six buildings collapsed.
The earthquake registered a 7.0 magnitude with an epicenter off the coast of Izmir, according to the the US Geological Survey, and was felt as far away as Athens and Crete.
The quake reportedly affected the nearby islands of Chios and Kos.
(Photo from Demetrios Ioannou on Twitter, taken originally from Facebook).
Greece and Turkey both sit on fault lines and earthquakes are common.
Video on social media showed people searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings. A mini-tsunami flooded the port of Samos and a number of buildings were damaged.
“We felt it very strongly,” local journalist Manos Stefanakis told the BBC, adding that smaller aftershocks were continuing. He said it was the biggest tremor to have hit the island since 1904.
Greek news outlet To Ethnos published a video showing images of damages on Samos.
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1 comment
Thoughts and prayers to my family on Chios.