The hope of finding survivors faded Sunday in western Turkey two days after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 49 people, according to a latest assessment of rescuers.
According to the Turkish government agency for disaster situations (AFAD), 49 people died and 896 were injured in the earthquake which also killed two teenagers in Greece.
The earthquake, whose magnitude was evaluated at 7 on the Richter scale by the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) and 6.6 by the Turkish authorities, occurred Friday afternoon in the Aegean Sea, to the south -west of Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, and near the Greek island of Samos.
Felt #earthquake (#deprem) M4.7 strikes 70 km SW of # İzmir (#Turkey) 27 min ago.
Please report to: https://t.co/OcjS76U6T5 pic.twitter.com/FN940JUCtw
- EMSC (@LastQuake) October 30, 2020
In Bayrakli, the most affected Turkish city, rescuers continued Sunday to search the rubble of eight collapsed buildings, according to AFAD.
Man uprooted alive after 33 hours under rubble
Several dozen of them were trying to clear one of these sites, amid a deafening din of excavators and jackhammers and under the worried eyes of relatives of the missing.
In the Bayraklı district, the rescue teams are still hard at work.
This heap of stones was still a building - 24 hours ago.
11 survivors were taken out and 13 dead bodies.
For those families who are watching, the unbearable wait continues.
@ France24_fr pic.twitter.com/U2Pe0QrGwL
- Ludovic de Foucaud (@ludovicdf) October 31, 2020
A rescuer said at least ten people could still be stranded under the rubble of this building.
In the night, a man was uprooted alive from the rubble, 33 hours after the earthquake, according to media.
Two days after the earthquake, fatigue and pain spread over the faces of the inhabitants who were numerous to spend a second night outside, for fear of aftershocks.
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Tents were set up to house families, and volunteers distributed soup to warm them.
An earthquake felt as far as Istanbul and Athens
The earthquake was so powerful that it was felt as far as Istanbul and Athens and triggered a mini-tsunami that flooded the streets of Seferihisar, a Turkish town near the epicenter, and swept the coast of the island. Greek from Samos.
VIDEO. Powerful earthquake hits Turkish coast
In Samos, two people were killed and extensive material damage was noted, according to the Greek authorities.
Faced with this disaster, Turkey and Greece, two countries located in one of the most active seismic regions in the world, put diplomatic tensions aside, saying they were ready to help each other.
The earthquake also aroused fears of a major earthquake threatening Istanbul, according to experts.
In 1999, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000, including a thousand in Istanbul.