Another Strong Quake Hits Western Turkey, Nine Injured

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — A strong quake shook western Turkey on Wednesday, hitting an area devastated by a massive quake last year. Nine people were injured, apparently when they jumped out of buildings in panic, private NTV television reported.

The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8, was centered near the town of Hendek, 105 miles east of Istanbul, said Ahmet Mete Isikara, head of Istanbul's Kandilli Observatory.

Hendek is 13 miles east of Adapazari, a town that was virtually leveled in last year's earthquake, which killed 17,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings.

At least three people were brought to a hospital in Adapazari suffering from shock, local officials said.

Isikara said the governor of the Adapazari region told him there were apparently no deaths or serious damage.

At a state-owned train factory in Adapazari, which was heavily damaged in last year's quake, workers left the building in panic.

"Everyone rushed out,'' said Emin Yilmaz, a switchboard operator at the TUVASAS train factory. But he said there was no damage at the factory.

The 8 to 10 second temblor hit at 4:41 p.m. It shook buildings in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city with some 12 million inhabitants.

Following last year's quake, some 26,000 people in the quake zone still live in tents, while another 150,000 live in prefabricated homes provided by the government.