Van shaken by 4.9 quake

VAN - Doğan News Agency

This file photo shows one damaged building in the city after the initial quake. DHA photo

A 4.9-magnitude earthquake shook the eastern province of Van on Jan. 20.

The region has recently been struck twice, the first time by a magnitude 7.2 quake Oct. 23 and another measuring 5.2 on Nov. 9, 2011.

The website of the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul reported the earthquake occurred at 11:57 a.m. and said its epicenter was in Van’s Adıgüzel district. No casualties were reported.

While this most recent tremor was not strong enough to cause much damage in Van, some buildings are still vulnerable to collapse, having been weakened by the violent seismic activity at the end of last year and their subsequent aftershocks, Associate Professor Oğuz Gündoğdu of Istanbul University’s Geophysics Engineering Department said.

More than 640 people lost their lives as a result of the quakes the city has suffered over the last few months.