At least two people were killed on the Greek island of Kos on Friday after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit the popular summer resort holiday destinations of the Dodecanese Islands in Greece and the Aegean coast of Turkey.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the epicentre of the quake, which struck at a depth of 10 km, was approximately located 10.3 km south of the major Turkish resort of Bodrum, a magnet for holidaymakers in the summer and 16.2 km east of the island of Kos in Greece. The quake was also felt on the Greek island of Rhodes.
A hospital official on the island said that two people were killed on the Greek island of Kos after the ceiling of a building in which they were residing collapsed. The emergency services said that the affected area was a bar in the centre of Kos town. There was no immediate information on the identity of the dead.
Georges Kyritsis, the mayor of Kos, said that several people were injured due to the quake. A few television pictures showed throngs of worried residents and holidaymakers in the streets of the Turkish resort of Bodrum.
"The biggest problem at the moment are electricity cuts in certain areas (of the city)," Bodrum mayor Mehmet Kocadon told NTV television. "There is light damage and no reports that anyone has been killed" in the area.
According to reports, the state hospital in Bodrum was evacuated immediately after the cracks appeared. The incoming patients were also being examined in a garden outside for safety purposes.
The governor of the southern Mugla province, where Bodrum is located, said that some people had been slightly injured after falling out of windows in panic.
The Turkish television reported that the quake triggered high waves off Gumbet near Bodrum which flooded the road and left parked cars stranded. There were no reports of casualties.
In recent years, Turkey and Greece have regularly been hit by earthquakes as it sits on significant fault lines. Turkey's western Aegean coast was recently hit by several significant earthquakes, which brought back memories of past deadly earthquakes.
In June, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit a village on the Greek island of Lesbos, killing a woman and leaving more than 15 injured. The quake also caused panic on Turkey's Aegean coast.
On August 17, 1999, a huge earthquake measuring more than 7.0 magnitude near the city of Izmit devastated vast areas in the country's densely populated northwestern zone, notably around Istanbul, killing over 17,000 people.
