Energy infrastructure damaged in 7.4 magnitude quake: Turkish energy minister

By Zeynep Beyza Kilic

ANKARA (AA) - The earthquake that originated in the southern city of Kahramanmaras early on Monday caused serious damage to energy infrastructure in the southern city of Kahramanmaras, the country's energy and natural resources minister said.

An earthquake of 7.4 magnitude occurred at 04.17 a.m. local time (0117 GMT) in the Pazarcik district of Kahramanmaras, which also affected nine neighboring cities. The total number of lives lost in Türkiye to date has reached 284 and the number of injured is 2,323 as of 11 a.m. (0800 GMT).

Damage has been inflicted on electricity transmission lines as well as natural gas transmission and distribution lines, Fatih Donmez said.

Donmez confirmed that a rupture in the natural gas main transmission line in the Turkoglu district of Kahramanmaras, close to the epicenter, was one of the most damaged infrastructures.

"This is our main transmission line that carries natural gas to Gaziantep, Hatay and Kilis, especially to Kahramanmaras. As of now, outages may occur in these provinces," he said.

Teams are working on repairing the damaged lines, he said, adding that approximately 30 substations belonging to Turkey Electricity Transmission (TEIAS) suffered varying degrees of damage.

"We dispatched our mobile power plants to the region. In particular, we will try to supply natural gas and energy in facilities such as hospitals, soup kitchens and bakeries, both by compressed natural gas (CNG) transportation method and mobile generators," Donmez said.