Areas of eastern Turkey were shaken by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday although there were no immediate reports of injuries, Agence France-Presse reported, citing officials.
The tremor happened at 10:46 a.m. (0746 GMT) in Kale in Malatya, a province that was badly hit by two violent earthquakes that struck on February 6, 2023, killing more than 53,500 people in Turkey and almost 6,000 in neighboring Syria.
“For now, there has been no loss of life nor destruction of property following the magnitude 5.9 earthquake,” the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) wrote on X.
Shortly afterwards, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said three buildings had “partially collapsed” in three separate areas and that emergency services had received several dozen calls for help.
The minister said 187 people were “affected by the earthquake” — 43 of them were “under surveillance” in hospital but many of them had been discharged.
Local officials in Malatya also said there were no “negative developments” to report at this stage, although the provincial governor said all primary and secondary schools would be closed for the day.
The tremor was felt in several large cities in the region, including Diyarbakır which lies some 140 kilometers (nearly 90 miles) to the southeast, according to AFP correspondents on the ground.
On feeling the earthquake, residents in several cities immediately rushed into the streets, according to images broadcast by Turkish television stations.