A strong earthquake has shaken western Turkey, causing at least three buildings that were damaged in a previous tremor to collapse, officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The 6.1-magnitude quake was centred in the town of Sindirgi in Balikesir province, according to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management agency. It struck at about 11pm local time on Monday at a relatively shallow depth of about 6km. Shallow quakes can cause greater damage.
The quake, which was followed by several aftershocks, was also felt in Istanbul and the nearby provinces of Bursa, Manisa and Izmir.
At least three unoccupied buildings and a two-storey shop collapsed in Sindirgi, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. The structures had already been damaged in a previous quake.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Mr Yerlikaya said authorities had dispatched 100 containers to house people temporarily displaced by the quake. Many spent Monday night sheltering in mosques and schools amid heavy rain, he said.
"Immediately after the earthquake, our citizens, who were rightfully fearful and anxious, did not want to return to their homes," he told journalists in Balikesir.
The government has also allocated an emergency fund of 25 million Turkish lira ($600,000) to Balikesir's governor Ismail Ustaoglu to respond to the emergency, Mr Yerlikaya added.
Twenty-two people were injured after falling due to panic during the quake, according to the governor. Eighteen people who jumped from balconies in panic sustained minor injuries, he said.
“So far, we have not identified any loss of life, but we are continuing our assessment,” Sindirgi's district administrator Dogukan Koyuncu told the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Footage from security cameras in Manisa showed street lamps swaying, pool water sloshing about and overflowing, and products swaying on shop shelves as the quake struck.
In Istanbul, people also left their homes when the quake hit. Some residents reported their furniture swaying and pets feeling disturbed. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said teams had been dispatched to conduct field surveys for damage.
In August, Sindirgi was struck by another magnitude 6.1 quake, which killed one person and injured dozens of others.
Turkey sits on top of major fault lines in the earth's surface, and earthquakes are frequent. In 2023, a magnitude 7.8 quake killed more than 53,000 people in Turkey and destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern provinces. Another 6,000 people were killed in the northern parts of neighbouring Syria.
