Earthquake Hits Turkey
Pastor Dale Morgan
Earthquake Hits Turkey*
The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 26, 2007; 8:08 PM
ANKARA, Turkey -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5
shook the Turkish capital early Thursday, rattling furniture and rousing
residents from their sleep, authorities said. There were no immediate
reports of injuries.
The epicenter of the quake, which hit at 1:47 a.m., was in the town of
Bala, some 50 miles south of Ankara, said Dogan Kalafat, an official
from the Istanbul-based Kandilli observatory.
A magnitude 5.7 temblor had also rocked Bala a week ago, damaging around
20 houses and bringing down the minaret of a mosque in Saripinar, a
nearby abandoned village.
Gov. Kemal Onal said there were no reported casualties from Thursday's
quake, but added that officials were still trying to assess the
situation in the region's villages.
Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, much of which lies atop the active
North Anatolian fault, though they are rare in the capital.
Two devastating earthquakes killed about 18,000 people in northwestern
Turkey in 1999. In 2003, a school dormitory collapsed following a
6.4-magnitude earthquake in Bingol, in southeast Turkey, killing 83
children.