A strong earthquake rattled eastern Turkey today, slightly injuring 37 people and causing some damage to buildings, officials said.
The quake measured 5.7 on the Richter scale and struck at 10.41am, said the Kandilli observatory in Istanbul. Its epicentre was in Karliova in Bingol province.
Officials dispatched three search-and-rescue teams from neighbouring Erzurum province to the affected area and Turkey's Red Crescent aid organisation sent 109 tents and 750 blankets.
An official in Bingol told Reuters by telephone that 37 people had been slightly injured and assessments into the scale of damage were continuing. There were no reports of any major destruction.
The injured, mostly hurt amid panic during the tremor, were being treated in a local hospital.
More than 160 people were killed in Bingol in 2003 in a strong earthquake.
Small and moderate earthquakes are a near daily occurrence in Turkey, which is crisscrossed by seismic faultlines. A powerful quake measuring 7.4 devastated areas of northwestern Turkey in 1999, killing more than 17,000 people.