7.0 Earthquake Hits Turkey And Greece

An earthquake reaching 7.0 on the Richter Scale hit the Aegean Sea Friday and was felt in both Turkey and Greece, multiple observatories said.

The quake was felt in Izmir, a coastal city in western Turkey, where people took to the streets to survey any structural damage. One building collapsed in the central part of the city, footage from state broadcaster TRT Haber showed.

While Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said that the earthquake was a 6.6 on the scale, the U.S. Geological Survey listed the quake as a 7.0. No injuries were immediately reported, Greek media said.

The earthquake hit at approximately 7:50 a.m. EST and was felt along most of the Aegean coast, according to NBC News.

The earthquake’s epicenter was about 33 km off Turkey’s coast and occurred at approximately 10 km below the surface, according to the USGS, and was felt as far away as Bulgaria, according to the LA Times.

“It’s a very big earthquake, it’s difficult to have a bigger one,” Eftyhmios Lekkas, who leads Greece’s anti-seismic efforts, told Greece’s Skai TV.

This story is breaking and will be updated with additional details as they become available.