Turkey hit by 2 magnitude 5.3 quakes; 11 villages damaged

Two earthquakes with preliminary magnitudes of 5.3 jolted Turkey’s northern Aegean Sea coast on Monday, damaging dozens of homes in 11 villages and injuring at least five people, officials said.
The first quake, which was centered beneath the Aegean off the coast of the town of Ayvacik in Turkey’s northwestern Canakkale province, struck at 6:51 a.m., according to the government’s crisis management agency. The second temblor hit at 1:58 p.m. and was centered in Ayvacik.
More than 100 aftershocks were recorded in the region Monday, the strongest measuring magnitude 4.4, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Orhan Tavli, the governor for Canakkale, said 40 homes were damaged in the worst-hit village of Yukarikoy, near Ayvacik. Some 50 homes in 10 other nearby villages were also affected.
“Praise God, there was no loss of life,” Tavli told reporters during a visit to Yukarikoy. “We have five injured people. They are still being treated.”
Tents were being dispatched to temporarily house those whose homes were damaged, he added.
Moreover, an earthquake of magnitude 5.6 also hit the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand late on Monday, according to the US Geological Survey.
Tremors were felt across parts of North India, including the Indian capital New Delhi, according to people on the ground.
The Indian Meteorological Department said the earthquake was one of “moderate” intensity. It pegged the magnitude at 5.8 and put the epicenter in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, close to India’s border with China and Nepal.
“The quake was quite heavy. It lasted for 25 or 30 seconds, but there are no reports of damage so far received,” said Ashok Kumar, a senior police official in the state capital Dehradun.
Amit Negi, the secretary of disaster management in the state said they had alerted all districts and were coordinating with them, but that there were no reports of damage so far.

Source: Arab News