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The tremor was felt as far away as Istanbul, nearly 200
kilometers (125 miles) to the north, raising fears in the city
of over 16 million people, which experts say is at high risk for
a major earthquake.
Sunday’s quake caused 16 structures to collapse, most of them
abandoned village homes, according to Interior Minister Ali
Yerlikaya.
The apartment building in Sindirgi was among the few inhabited
structures to fall, prompting authorities to detain the owner
and the constructor for questioning on suspicion of “causing
death and injury by negligence,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc
said.
Of the 29 people who were hospitalized, 19 were discharged as of
Monday, Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said. Those still
hospitalized were not in serious condition, he added.
Meanwhile, more than 200 aftershocks have struck the region, the
strongest measuring 4.6. They forced many residents to spend the
night outdoors and sleep in cars out of fear that their homes
might collapse, the national TV broadcaster HaberTurk reported.
Turkey sits on top of major fault lines and earthquakes are
frequent.
In 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake 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 neighboring
Syria. The high death toll was blamed on widespread use of
substandard construction methods, weak oversight and
institutional failures.
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