
6.1-magnitude earthquake hits western Turkey: Disaster agency
Ankara (AFP) A 6.1-magnitude quake has struck Sindirgi in western Turkey, the Turkish disaster management agency said on Sunday.
Sunday's quake was felt across several cities in the west of the country, including Istanbul and the tourist hotspot of Izmir, according to the authorities, who are yet to comment on any potential damages or deaths.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Dubai Eye
2 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Firefighters battle 'fire whirls' in northern Spain
Photo by HANDOUT / UME / AFP Extreme heat and strong winds caused "fire whirls" as a blaze burned several houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from near a UNESCO-listed national park in northern Spain, authorities said on Monday. Thirteen fires broke out in the north of the Castile and Leon region, with about 700 people told to abandon their homes in half a dozen villages. Four fires were still live, Juan Carlos Suarez-Quinones, chief of environment for the regional government, said on Monday morning. Firefighters had extinguished the other nine. High temperatures on Sunday had caused the so-called fire whirls near Las Medulas park, forcing firemen to retreat and burning some houses in the nearby village, according to Suarez-Quinones. "This occurs when temperatures reach around 40 degrees Celsius in a very confined valley and then suddenly (the fire) enters a more open and oxygenated area. This produces a fireball, a fire whirl," he said. "This explosive and surprising phenomenon was very dangerous. It disrupted all the work that had been done, forcing us to start practically from scratch," he added. Scientists say the Mediterranean region's hotter, drier summers put it at high risk of wildfires. Once fires start, dry vegetation and strong winds can cause them to spread rapidly and burn out of control, sometimes provoking fire whirls. A prolonged heatwave in Spain continued on Monday with temperatures set to reach 42 C in some regions. Two or three fires may have been started by lightning strikes, Suarez-Quinones said, but there were indications that the majority were the result of arson, which he described as "environmental terrorism". In the northern part of neighbouring Portugal, nearly 700 firefighters were battling a blaze that started on Saturday in Trancoso, some 350 km northeast of Lisbon. So far this year about 52,000 hectares, or 0.6 per cent of Portugal's total area, have burned, exceeding the 2006-2024 average for the same period by about 10,000 hectares, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. Firefighters were also battling blazes in Navarra in northeastern Spain and in Huelva in the southwest, authorities said.


Khaleej Times
5 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Look: Oman's giant sinkholes draw tourists; authorities put warning signs
Shrouded in fog in the lush mountains of southern Oman, a giant chasm plunges into the landscape, echoing with mysterious sounds that have spawned myths and legends among nearby tribes. This enormous sinkhole is one of four that dot Dhofar governorate, including one of the world's biggest: the yawning Kahf Teiq, 211 metres (692 feet) deep and 150 metres wide. At the Tawi Atair sinkhole, tourists potter around on concrete paths and stairways. Not all of the holes are so welcoming, however. The sheer drop of the Sheeheet pit, a 40-minute drive away along mountain roads, is ringed with slippery mud, prompting the authorities to put up a fence and warning signs. During AFP's visit, one tourist slipped and slid perilously close to the edge. Dhofar's governor, Marwan bin Turki Al-Said, gave assurances in a briefing attended by AFP that safety was a priority at the sinkholes. Tawi Atair means "Well of Birds" in Dhofar's regional language, a reference to the avian twittering, distorted by echoes, that reverberates off the rock. It lay unknown to the outside world until 1997, when a team of Slovenian researchers working with Oman's Sultan Qaboos University brought it to international attention. Now the sinkholes are marketed as a tourist attraction in Dhofar, whose temperate climate draws many visitors from the Gulf during its punishing summers. Long on the margins of the mainstream tourism circuit, Oman as a whole is increasingly attracting attention from international travellers seeking natural beauty and authenticity. The country welcomed nearly four million visitors in 2024, with the government aiming to triple that figure by 2040 by focusing on sustainable tourism. Dhofar folklore has it that the sinkholes were created by meteorite strikes, direct hits from outer space that gouged the colossal craters. But Ali Faraj Al-Kathiri, a geologist based in Dhofar, explains that water seeping into the porous limestone forms an acid that then dissolves it, creating the caverns over a period of thousands of years. The Oman sinkholes are not to be confused with the "Well of Hell", the foul-smelling, pitch-black Barhout pit across the border in eastern Yemen that is reputed to be a prison for demons.


Gulf Today
10 hours ago
- Gulf Today
VIDEO: Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hits Turkey, tremors felt in Istanbul
A 6.1-magnitude quake struck Sindirgi in western Turkey on Sunday, the Turkish disaster management agency (AFAD) said on Sunday. The quake was felt across several cities in the west of the country, including Istanbul and the tourist hotspot of Izmir, said officials, who are yet to comment on any potential damages or deaths. Several buildings collapsed in the Balikesir province after the quake, according to images broadcast by Turkish media. The quake hit at 7:53 pm (1653 GMT), with a 4.6-magnitude aftershock following several minutes later, according to AFAD. "All AFAD teams and the relevant institutions have immediately begun searches on the ground. No undesirable event has been flagged up till now," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X. Turkey is crisscrossed by several geological fault lines which have previously caused catastrophes in the country. A quake in February 2023 in the southwest killed at least 53,000 people and devastated Antakya, site of the ancient city of Antioch. More recently a 5.8-magnitude tremor in the same region resulted in one death and injured 69 people at the beginning of July.