An earthquake registering 5.4 on the open-ended Richter scale shook the eastern Turkish province of Erzurum overnight, injuring 46 people and damaging property, the provincial government said.
Governor Osman Derya Kadioglu said the injuries -- mainly cuts from broken glass or bruises -- were not serious and were mainly due to panic as people fled their homes.
"Nine villages in the Pasinler region, the quake's epicenter, were damaged," he said on NTV news television. The Kandilli seismology institute recorded the tremor at 42 minutes past midnight (2142 GMT).
Turkey suffers frequent earthquakes. The worst, in August and November 1999, registering 7.4 and 7.2 on the Richter scale, killed more than 20,000 people in the densely populated northwest – ANKARA (AFP)
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