People jump from buildings in panic after moderate quake strikes Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey – A moderate earthquake shook southeastern Turkey on Thursday, damaging a mosque's minarets and injuring a handful of people who jumped off buildings in panic, authorities said.

The Kandilli Observatory seismology center said a magnitude 5.5 quake struck at a depth of 3.3 miles on Thursday morning at 8:52 p.m.

The epicenter of the quake was in the village of Pinaronu in Sirnak province, close to the borders of Syria and Iraq.

The temblor toppled the top of a minaret of a mosque and caused cracks in a second minaret in the center of Sirnak, authorities said. About six people were treated for injuries after jumping off windows or balconies.

Thursday's quake followed a stronger quake, measured between magnitude 5.8 and 6.0, that struck the southwestern tip of Turkey on Sunday. There were no deaths or serious damage but at least six people were also hurt by jumping out of buildings in the Aegean town of Fethiye.

A rumor late Wednesday that another quake and tsunami was imminent caused panic in Fethiye, prompting hundreds of people to flee to higher ground, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Authorities struggled to calm the public, using loud speakers to say there was no threat of a quake or tsunami.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, much of which lies atop active fault lines.