Earthquake strikes in Aegean Sea off coast of Turkey, Greece

Turkey's Red Crescent society has deployed teams from six cities — Izmir, Denizli, Düzce, Ankara, İstanbul, and Adana — to provide food to those affected by the disaster.

In a tweet, the organization said the teams had the capacity to provide food for up to 25,500 people.

The organization has also deployed its first responder teams.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked residents on the island of Samos to remain alert in the aftermath of the quake.

The quake's epicenter was in the sea 19 kilometers north of the island, at a depth of 2 kilometers from the surface according to Greece's Institute of Geodynamics.

At least four people have been injured on the Greek island of Samos following the quake.

Nikos Stefanis, the president of Samos Hospital, said all four injuries had been minor and suffered by individuals with orthopaedic problems.

He said there was building damage across the island, with the worst sustained in the area of Karlovasi, in northwest Samos.

Describing the quake, Stefanis said it as very strong and had lasted a long time.

Samos Deputy Mayor Giorgos Dionisiou told Greek media that the collapsed buildings were mainly old ones.

The Greek Fire Service in a statement said that so far, only damage to buildings had been reported. The statement said there had been no calls about trapped people.

Even so, the people of Samos have been told by Greek authorities to stay away from the island's shores and buildings.

Residents have also been asked to evacuate their houses for the next 48 hours for precautionary reasons. 

Greece's Geodynamic Institute said the epicenter was in the sea 19 kilometers north of the island of Samos. 

Thirty eight ambulances, 35 National Medical Rescue teams and two ambulance helicopters are at the scene of the earthquake in Izmir, the Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Thursday.

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management officials said at least 120 people were wounded in the quake.

At least four people have died following the earthquake, Turkey’s health minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. 

In total, 120 Turkish citizens were affected by the disaster, he added. 

Zeki Soysal, an eyewitness in the Turkish city of Izmir, said he threw himself out of a building as the earthquake hit.

"I threw myself outside in [the] last second, my building collapsed," he told CNN Turk Friday.

Soysal added: "There was an older woman in the building but we saved her, she got out. There is another building close to this building, they are continuing to try to get the people out." 

The earthquake has caused damage on the Greek island of Samos in the Aegean sea.

Greece's Institute of Geodynamics said the quake's epicenter was in the sea 19 km north of the island, at a depth of 2 km from the surface. 

Photographs have emerged of a large church on Samos which has partly collapsed.

The quake was also felt in the Greek capital of Athens.

Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted “Get well soon İzmir” in the aftermath of the quake.

“With all the means of our state, we stand by our citizens affected by the earthquake. We took action to start the necessary work in the region with all our relevant institutions and ministers,” Erdogan added. 

The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management said that the epicenter of the quake was 17 km (11 miles) off Izmir's coast, at a depth of 16 km in the Aegean sea.

At least 20 buildings have been damaged in the Turkish city of Izmir, its mayor Tunc Soyer told CNN Turk. 

Soyer said there were no reports of casualties as of now.

The quake struck 19 km north of Greece's Samos Island in the eastern Aegean Sea, according to the Athens Earthquake Institute.