The Aegean Sea was shaken on Friday October 30 by a powerful earthquake, the strength of which was evaluated at 7 on the Richter scale by the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS), and at 6.6 by the Turkish authorities .

For now, at least four people have been killed and 120 injured in this earthquake, which caused the collapse of several buildings in western Turkey, according to an initial report published by the Minister of Health.

"Alas, four of our fellow citizens lost their lives in the earthquake [...] In total, 120 of our fellow citizens were injured," Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

İzmir'deki depremde ne yazık ki 4 vatandaşımız hayatını kaybetti.

Toplamda 120 vatandaşımız depremden etkilendi.

38 ambulansımız, 35 UMKE ekibimiz ve 2 ambulans helikopterimiz olay yerinde.

Tüm desteğimizle İzmir halkının yanındayız.

Başımız sağ olsun.

- Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) October 30, 2020

The two countries ready to "support each other"

Despite the strong tensions between them, Greece and Turkey are committed to helping each other if needed, Ankara reported.

In a telephone interview, the foreign ministers of the two countries "stressed that they were ready, in case of need, to help and support each other," the Turkish ministry said in a statement.

The earthquake caused the collapse of several buildings in the Turkish province of Izmir, and a mini-tsunami that swept the coast of the Greek island of Samos.

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake on the Richter scale affected the Greek island of Samos and the Turkish city of Izmir, where several damages are to be identified.

Several witnesses report rising waters.

pic.twitter.com/jGJaJtgO1d

- Alexandros Kottis (@alexandros_kts) October 30, 2020

The promise of mutual aid expressed on Friday recalls the aid that Greece had offered to Turkey, after a deadly earthquake in 1999, a gesture which had allowed a warming of relations between these two countries in crisis.

Experts had spoken of "earthquake diplomacy".

More than 20 years later, relations between these two neighboring NATO members are again strained, in particular because of gas searches unilaterally carried out by Ankara in the eastern Mediterranean, Athens accusing it of prospecting in its waters.

With AFP

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