August 16, 1999
Web posted at: 11:11 p.m. EDT (0311 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- A strong earthquake shook northwestern Turkey early Tuesday, leveling buildings, cutting power and phone lines and sending frightened residents into the streets, local radio reported.

The quake's epicenter was near Izmit, a city 65 miles (104 kilometers) east of Istanbul on the eastern shore of the Sea of Marmara, according to privately owned TGRT radio.

The quake was given a preliminary magnitude of 7.1, said Bill Smith of the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, which monitors seismic activity worldwide.

An earthquake registering between 7.0 and 7.9 is considered a "major" earthquake, capable of widespread heavy damage.

Turkey's Anatolian news agency reported 34 people were hurt. One person was said to have died in Bursa after jumping off a balcony in panic.

A Turkish man escapes the rubble of a house hit by the earthquake

CNN freelance reporter Andy Finkel was shaken out of his sleep.

"The house was shaking violently," he said. People in Istanbul have left their buildings and are standing in the street, he said. There was no electricity in his area of the city, on the Asian side of the Bosporus strait.

Local radio reported the quake damaged several buildings, and caused injuries and gas leaks that had erupted into fires.

Reports said a few multi-story buildings collapsed in Istanbul and there were people begging for help under the debris.

Police could not say precisely how many people were injured in Istanbul but confirmed that several buildings have collapsed.

A doctor interviewed by NTV said two people died as a result of the quake at his hospital in Istanbul, and 100 were injured.

It was unclear whether the quake damaged any historical sites in Istanbul such as the Blue Mosque, Saint Sophia, which is nearly 1,500 years old, and Topkapi Palace, the seat of the Ottoman sultans.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.