Earthquake in eastern Turkey: at least four dead

The earth trembled in the Turkish province of Elazig on Friday around 8:55 p.m. local (6:55 p.m. in Paris), according to the government agency for disaster situations. The earthquake reached a magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale. The American institute USGS measured the shock at 6.7.

"Four people were killed," including two in Elazig and two in the neighboring province of Malatya, according to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. According to him, buildings have collapsed.

strong #earthquake shakes Eastern Turkey 13 min ago. More info at: https://t.co/ANxZEaPpJg pic.twitter.com/ND42bEIjOW

“It was scary, the furniture fell on us. We rushed out, ”said 47-year-old Elazig resident Melahat Can. "We are going to spend the next few days on a farm outside the city."

"Very powerful, very scary"

Another resident, 68-year-old Zekeriya Gunes, said he saw a building collapse two hundred meters from his home, without being able to say whether it was inhabited. "Everyone took to the streets, it was very powerful, very scary," he said.

Photos taken at #elazig earthquake magnitude 6.8 # earthquake pic.twitter.com/TkMre1aYwk

The earthquake was felt in several regions of eastern Turkey, including Tunceli, said the NTV television channel, specifying that teams of rescuers had been mobilized.

Turkey, located on several fault lines, is frequently affected by earthquakes. In 1999, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the east of the country, killing more than 17,000 people, including a thousand in Istanbul. Last September, an earthquake of magnitude 5.7 had hit the economic capital of the country.

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Experts believe that a major earthquake can affect this city of more than 15 million inhabitants at any time, where the often anarchic habitat is rarely earthquake-resistant.