5.1 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Aegean Sea
An earthquake of 5.1 magnitude hit the Aegean Sea on Monday, with no reports of casualties or damages, Turkish media reported.
The quake struck at 0817 GMT, with its epicenter in the Aegean, the Anatolia news agency said, citing the Istanbul-based Kandilli seismological institute.
The tremor was also felt in Turkey's Aegean provinces of Izmir and Aydin, Anatolia said.
Professor Orhan Tatar of the national disaster and emergency management center said the epicenter of the quake was in the Aegean between Turkey's Karaburun peninsula and Greece's Lesbos island.
"A big part of the Aegean region is within the quake zone which has active fault lines. ... The region is therefore under an earthquake risk," he was quoted as telling Anatolia.
Fatih Aksoy, a local official at Karaburun, told the private NTV television that the quake caused no damage in the main town.
Turkey is crossed by several fault lines.
A powerful quake shook eastern Turkey on October 23, killing more than 600 people. It was followed on November 12 by a 5.6 magnitude tremor that killed another 40 people in the same area.
In 1999, two strong quakes in heavily populated and industrialized parts of northwest Turkey left some 20,000 people dead.
Source: Agence France Presse
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