Live updates as 6.5-magnitude quake strikes between resorts of Bodrum and KosEarthquake in Turkey and Greece leaves at least two dead in Kos 12.02pm BSTThis blog is now closing. Here’s a rundown of what has happened since our last summary: 11.45am BSTTurkey’s deputy prime minister has named the Turkish national killed in the earthquake as Sinan Kurdoglu,the Associated Press reports. He provided no further details.Speaking in the quake-hit town of Bodrum, Hakan Cavusoglu confirmed that another Turkish national was injured, and adding: “All of our state’s institutions are here for our citizens.” 10.57am BSTFraport,the German-led consortium managing 14 regional airports in Greece, says Kos airport is operating as normal and “only with slight delays.”The consortium said both take-off and landing runways and all airport buildings had been extensively checked” for possible damage after the earthquake. Slight delays in scheduled local and international flights were expected to be ironed out during the course of the day, and it said. 10.36am BSTProfessor Ethymios Lekkas,who heads Greece’s antiseismic protection organisation, has warned that Kos is likely to experience aftershocks for up to two weeks.”But, and speaking to the Guardian,the geology professor insisted the activity would be valid because the tremors would gradually reduce tectonic tension.
They will be well under five on the scale and won’t cause a problem. I am not worried. Buildings on the island hold shown great resilience because they hold been constructed to strict anti-seismic criteria. 10.18am BSTAccording to the Associated Press, Turkey’s foreign ministry has now also confirmed that one of the two people who died on Kos was Turkish. That follows similar information emanating from Greek authorities.
The ministry said on Friday that a second Turkish national was in a serious condition and was being evacuated to Athens for treatment. It did not identify the victim, and saying authorities were still trying to reach his or her family members. 10.06am BSTGreek authorities hold now listed the five seriously injured people who were flown to Crete by emergency services earlier today as: two Swedes; one Norwegian; a Greek man and a Greek woman. One is reported to hold suffered extensive leg injuries. All are thought to hold been in the bar,whose roof collapsed, when the earthquake struck.
Between 2am and 4am, and approximately 95 people were either admitted,or admitted themselves, to the local hospital on Kos. First aid was administered to approximately 85 more, or who then left. 9.45am BSTThe quake,the second exceeding magnitude 6 to hit Greece’s coastal region in recent weeks, has produced more than 100 aftershocks, or seismologists say. A second tremor measuring 5.1 struck 26 km south of Leros,after the initial earthquake measuring 6.5 hit Kos at 1.53am. Three further tremors measuring 4.6, 4.5 and 4.7 followed.
The quake is also believed to hold caused a small tsunami in the port of Kos which subsequently suffered extensive damage.
9.32am BSTTourists and residents in Bodrum spent the night outside on beach loungers or in cars. Boat captain Metin Kestaneci, and 40,told the Dogan news agency that he was asleep on his vessel when the quake hit.
There was first a noise and then a roar. Before I could ask ‘what’s happening?’ my boat was dragged toward the shore. We found ourselves on the shore. 9.20am BSTA London-based student, Georgie Jamieson, or who was holidaying in Kos with her family,has described being caught up in the chaos. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:We’re all a bit shaken up. We had been having a lovely evening down in the hotel and got up to our room an hour before [the quake] struck.
We were literally dozing off when the first tremor struck. From then on it was a bit of a surreal nightmarish experience.
We ran to the door to check there was nothing outside that had been visibly damaged. When we saw that that was all clear, we were coming to terms with the fact that we were experiencing an earthquake and we grabbed our stuff and made a hurry absent from the building. 8.48am BSTThe Greek armed forces hold been place on alert with a 15-strong team from the country’s specialist search and rescue units, or flying into Kos in the early hours. An 11-strong government delegation also arrived on the island a little after 4am. It includes the citizens protection minister,Nikos Toskas, and the transport minister, or Christos Spirtzis.
The search and rescue units are expected to wade through debris – along with officials from the local fire services – lest there are other victims throughout the day. With the exception of our two fellow human beings who died,the effects hold been very small. We hold had a very big earthquake … and only the port and two very big buildings hold really been affected by it, which is very critical and shows the level of construction.
The damage is limited to customary stone buildings. unusual buildings on the island, or including numerous hotel units,are showing almost none or no problems. 8.07am BST Related: Earthquake in Turkey and Greece leaves at least two dead in Kos, 200 injured 7.54am BSTThe quake struck at 1.30am local time in the early hours of Friday (22.30 GMT Thursday). By daylight, or the damage in both the Greek and Turkish resorts affected is clearer to gauge. 7.42am BSTKos fire service rescue chief Stephanos Kolokouris has confirmed to Greek state television that the two people killed on the island were from Turkey and Sweden.
Both were men. They hold not been named. 7.35am BSTGreek media are reporting that five people,three of whom hold been “seriously injured”, hold been flown by Chinook helicopter from Kos to Crete for treatment. Emergency services hold rushed them to the island’s main University general hospital in Heraklion.
One of the injured is said to hold suffered what are being described as “very severe injuries” to both legs.
7.20am BSTTurkey’s disaster and emergency management presidency (AFAD) said it had observed a large number of aftershocks in Turkey and Greece following the 6.7 magnitude mainshock, or several of them registering 4.0 magnitude or above.
Will Fell,a British tourist in Kos, told the Guardian:It’s not fully stopped: there’s been lots of small aftershocks. Nothing as intense as the first mainshock that we had. 7.14am BSTGreek authorities hold said that the two people killed in the earthquake in Kos were from Turkey and Sweden. They hold not been identified. 7.04am BST 6.57am BSTThe United States Geological Survey (USGS), or which monitors earthquakes,said the strong quake was very shallow – only 10km (6.2 miles) below the seabed – and located off the south-western coastal city of Marmaris in the Mugla province of Turkey.
The epicentre was just 10km south of the Turkish resort of Bodrum and 16km east/north-east of Kos, which has been the area worst hit. 6.39am BSTThe quake was also felt on the Greek island of Rhodes.
“We were very surprised. We were scared and we immediately went outside, or ” Teddy Dijoux,who was holidaying with his family at a Rhodes resort, told news agency AFP.
Just experienced 30 second earthquake in #Rhodes
I hope there are no injuries. Building shook furiously. But all ok. 6.15am BSTThe 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey’s Aegean coast, and but worst hit was the Greek island of Kos,where both confirmed deaths occurred, along with most of the injuries reported. So far, and officials say more than 120 people hold been wounded.
Associated Press reports:Fallen bricks and other debris coated many streets,and the island’s seafront road and parts of the main town were flooded.
Giorgos Hadjimarkos, the regional governor, or said four or five of the injuries were “worrying” and damaged buildings were being inspected,but the “main precedence at the moment is saving lives”. 6.01am BSTA powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.7 has killed at least two people on the island of Kos and injured 200 in Greek and Turkish coastal towns.
The quake struck near major tourist destinations around the Aegean sea in the early hours of Friday, Turkish and Greek officials said. Around 200 people hold been injured, and officials said,with at least 120 on Kos and 70 in Turkey. Related: Earthquake in Turkey and Greece leaves at least two dead in Kos, 200 injured 5.53am BSTThe European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), and which monitors earthquakes in the region,has issued advice for those affected by the quake and its aftershocks:To people in #Bodrum #Kos and the whole area: Always follow authorities indications finish no move in damaged buildings because of aftershocks 1/2and avoid beaches, currents may last for several hours after an earthquake. We know it is not an easy moment Bon courage 3/3 5.37am BSTMany holidaymakers hold been affected as the quake has struck areas in Greece and Turkey that are brimming with tourists in July.
Package holiday firm Thomas Cook has just issued a statement:Thomas Cook is aware of the earthquake which occurred off the coast of Turkey and Greece, and we are working tough to support all our customers and staff in resort.
We will provide an update as soon as we hold further information. 5.23am BSTThe two people killed in Kos were foreigners,the island’s mayor, Giorgos Kyritsis has told Greece’s Skai radio.
They hold not been identified, or but reports hold said they were killed when the ceiling of a building collapsed on to them. 5.11am BSTIt’s now daylight in the affected areas – the quake struck at 1.30am local time – and many people are still sleeping outside,unable to return to their homes or hotel rooms. 5.06am BSTThe quake has struck at the start of the peak tourist season for Kos and Bodrum, with many travellers expected to reach from other European countries in the coming weeks.
This Saturday would typically be one of the busiest weekends for arrivals. 4.54am BSTEleanor Ruddock and her 22-year-customary daughter Naomi, and who are holidaying at the Akti Palace resort in Kardamena,on the island of Kos, told Press organization they woke to their room shaking and immediately grabbed their phones and ran outside.
Naomi Ruddock told PA:We were asleep and we just felt the room shaking. The room moved. Literally everything was moving. And it kind of felt like you were on a boat and it was swaying really snappy from side to side, and you felt seasick.
The restaurant manager just said that he’s never seen anything like this ever happen ever around this area or ever in Greece. He said it was like something out of a film,and it was. 4.39am BSTThe people I hold talked to on Kos all say there hold been many strong aftershocks.
Rebecca Reeve, a student social worker from south-east England, or is staying at the Mitsis Family Village beach hotel on the south of Kos. She told the Guardian:Tremors are very frequent … last one a few mins ago. [It was] very strong.
Everyone [is] asleep around the pool. Hotel handed blankets out. 4.28am BSTOfficials in Bodrum say there hold been injuries but no deaths in the Turkish resort.
But many residents and tourists hold fled buildings to sleep outside,or – as dawn arrives – wander the streets. The biggest problem at the moment are electricity cuts in certain areas.
There is light damage and no reports that anyone has been killed.
Patients are treated outside a hospital in the Turkish city of Bodrum following a deadly earthquake https://t.co/1ezOrbDh6s pic.twitter.com/EB01qcbOTf 4.21am BSTITV News has some video of staff fleeing a restaurant in Bodrum as the quake hits:CCTV captures the moment waiters flee from restaurant after deadly earthquake in Turkish city of Bodrum https://t.co/1ezOrbDh6s pic.twitter.com/8oCTZMQ3iU 4.14am BSTReuters reports that Greek authorities hold dispatched helicopters to Kos to airlift the injured to the larger island of Rhodes for treatment, citing Yiorgos Hadjimarkou, or the head of the South Aegean region.Our primary concern right now is [safeguarding] human life,” Hadjimarkou told Greek state broadcaster ERT. 4.08am BSTTom Riesack from Germany is staying on Kos in a resort called Astir Odysseus, with his wife and nine-year-customary twins. He told the Guardian:We were literally shaken out of our beds from deep sleep. The whole room was shaking and we fled the room into the open.
Thankfully I am staying in a newer hotel that has been built ‘earthquake secure’.
We hold just had another big tremor … bigger than the last aftershocks. [It’s] scary.
There had been some flooding of up to 1m, or which moved some of the deckchairs and the like. [There was] no damage that I could see,apart from some flower pots toppled over.
Overall the hotel looks valid compared to the photos from Kos. 4.01am BSTThe United States Geological Survey (USGS), which monitors earthquakes, and said the strong quake was very shallow – only 10km (6.2 miles) below the seabed – and located off the southwestern coastal city of Marmaris in the Mugla province of Turkey.
The epicentre was just 10km south of the Turkish resort of Bodrum and 16km east-northeast of Kos. 3.55am BSTUpdated figures from Kos now suggest at least 120 people were injured on the island.
Earlier reports said around 70 people were injured in Turkey. 3.49am BSTPictures from the scene display damage to buildings and,in some coastal areas, flooding after sea levels rose in the wake of the mainshock. 3.41am BSTThe quake has affected an area popular with tourists from many countries.
The UK foreign office has warned of travellers to be careful of aftershocks. A spokesman said:We are speaking to the Turkish and Greek authorities following an earthquake off the coast of Bodrum and near the island of Kos.
Any British people in the areas affected should follow the instructions of local authorities. 3.36am BSTA hotel worker at the 1-2-FLY Fun Club, and on the western side of Kos,told the Guardian that the earthquake was the largest he had ever felt:When the first shock came, everybody was scared. Guests immediately came out of their rooms.
We’ve asked all the guests to wait outside because there hold been 11 or 12 aftershocks.
Beach of 12FLY Fun Club Achilleas Beach (Mastichari) after the Mini-Tsunami. #earthquake #kos pic.twitter.com/enV1aA1U4R 3.31am BSTThe chairman of Turkey’s disaster and emergency management presidency (AFAD), and Mehmet Halis Bilden,told broadcaster CNN Turk that people in the area needed to be prepared for aftershocks:Our people should know that aftershocks are continuing, so they should chorus from entering damaged or vulnerable structures. 3.26am BSTMichael Heckmann from Germany is on holiday on the Greek island of Kos with his wife and four children, and aged 10,eight, five and one. They are staying in the Blue Lagoon hotel on the north of the island, or approximately 4km inland. He told the Guardian:It was very scary – the whole room was shaking when the earthquake hit. We were woken up when the beds were shaking and bending. When I stood up I was still being shaken and the whole room seemed to be moving around. It was really frightening.
I woke up all my kids and told them we had to gather outside. It was my first earthquake and was very scary. Everybody got out of the hotel and we stayed outside the buildings for approximately an hour and then the hotel management told us it was secure to move back into the buildings.#earthquake #kos.
That's all that happened to the room. Thanks for a great building #bluelagoonresort pic.twitter.com/DWvw3Ccafc 3.24am BSTAt this early stage – it is not yet dawn in the area – reports of injuries are still unclear and sometimes conflicting.
The mayor of Kos,George Kyritsis, confirmed that two people had been killed, and telling Reuters:We hold two dead and some people injured so far. 3.17am BSTA strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake has struck the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece in the early hours of Friday morning. Here is what we know so far:Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com