ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday sent condolences to Turish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after earthquake in Balıkesir province.
“Deeply concerned by the earthquake in Turkiye’s Balıkesir province. Our prayers are with all those affected and we wish for the safety and wellbeing of our Turkish brothers and sisters,” the premier wrote in a social media post on X.
He conveyed his heartfelt sympathies to President Erdogan, and assured him that Pakistan stands ready to extend all possible assistance.
A 6.1-magnitude quake struck Sindirgi in western Turkiye on Sunday, the Turkish disaster management agency (AFAD) said, killing at least one person and injuring dozens more.
The quake was felt across several cities in the west of the country, including Istanbul and the tourist hotspot of Izmir.
“An 81-year-old person died soon after having been rescued from under the rubble,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told journalists at Sindirgi, the epicentre of the quake.
Another 29 people had been injured, but not seriously, he added.
The quake collapsed 16 buildings in Sindirgi and its surroundings, of which four were inhabited, including a three-storey building in the city centre, he said.
Several people were pulled alive from the rubble of the three-storey building, where six people were living. The person who died had also been buried under the rubble there before being freed.
Earlier, Mayor Serkan Sak had told Turkish private channel NTV: “Four were rescued from the rubble.” Efforts to extract two others were ongoing, he added.
Some 319 first responders were deployed to the affected zone, AFAD said.
The quake hit at 7:53 pm (1653 GMT), with some 20 aftershocks ranging from 3.5 to 4.6 magnitude, according to AFAD.
Turkiye is crisscrossed by several geological fault lines which have previously caused catastrophes in the country.
A quake in February 2023 in the southwest killed at least 53,000 people and devastated Antakya, site of the ancient city of Antioch.
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