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Two dead as earthquake strikes Kütahya, Turkey

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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Two people were killed in a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in Turkey shortly before midnight local time on Thursday. The epicenter was located in Simav, Kütahya, and was at a depth of 7.6 km. In the hours following the initial earthquake, Kütahya was shaken by several aftershocks.

Officials said two people were killed; one was thought to have suffered a heart attack and the other died after jumping from a window in panic. Dozens more were injured. Emergency services dispatched search and rescue crews and gave out blankets, food and water. Officials said a wastewater dam had not been damaged by the earthquake, and it posed "no risk."

The earthquake was felt as far away as the Aegean province of İzmir, the northwestern provinces of Bursa and İstanbul, and even the city of Edirne, not far from the Bulgarian and Greek and borders, because the depth was very shallow. More than 18,000 people died following two earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 7.0 in northwestern Turkey in 1999.


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