Earthquake hits northwest Turkey

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 shook northwest Turkey on last night.

The quake caused some damage, and one person died jumping from a building as the quake struck.

The epicentre of the quake was 50 miles (80 km) west-southwest of the town of Kutahya, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The tremor also shook buildings further north in Turkey's largest city Istanbul.

"A citizen panicked and died after jumping from the window," Kutahya Governor Kenan Ciftci told broadcaster NTV.

An empty university building collapsed in the quake, which also shattered windows in some buildings, the state-run Anatolian news agency reported.

Turkey's Kandilli earthquake observatory said the quake, which struck at 11:15 pm (20:15 GMT), had a magnitude of 5.9 and that its epicentre was the district of Simav in Kutahya province. There was a series of aftershocks.

Residents of Kutahya waited nervously in the town's streets after the quake, television pictures showed. Ambulances were sent out in the affected area as a precaution.

Major geological faultines cross Turkey and small earthquakes are a near daily occurrence. Two large quakes in 1999 killed more than 20,000 people in northwest Turkey.