Thousands Forced To Evacuate In Philippines As Super Typhoon Approaches

Thousands of residents ordered to evacuate in the Philippines after Super Typhoon Goni explodes from a 30-mph tropical depression to a 175-mph super storm in 54 hours

 Strange Sounds

Super Typhoon Goni exploded into Earth’s most powerful storm of 2020 as a category 5 storm with 180 mph winds in the waters to the east of the Philippines, at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, October 30.

Goni is expected to make landfall on Luzon Island in the Philippines on Sunday as a category 4 storm, and pass very close to the capital of Manila at category 1 strength or stronger.

Goni put on an extremely impressive bout of rapid intensification beginning at 0Z October 28, strengthening by 145 mph – from a 30-mph tropical depression to a 175-mph super typhoon, in 54 hours.

According to Sam Lillo, only five storms in the global tropical cyclone database have achieved a 145-mph increase in 54 hours or less: Typhoon Vera in 1959 in the northwest Pacific; Hurricane Linda in 1997 in the northeast Pacific; Cyclone Zoe in 2002 in the southeast Pacific; Hurricane Wilma in 2005 in the Atlantic, and Hurricane Patricia in 2015 in the northeast Pacific.

Thousands evacuated 

Philippine officials on Saturday ordered evacuation of thousands of residents in the southern part of the main Luzon island as the category 5 storm approaches the Southeast Asian nation.

Pre-emptive evacuations have started in coastal and landslide-prone communities in the provinces of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur, while Albay provincial government would order residents in risky areas to leave their homes. “The strength of this typhoon is no joke,” said a local disaster manager.

Priest Shot In France While Closing His Church - Hunt For Shooter Underway

Orthodox priest shot at church in France, motive unknown

JAMEY KEATEN and ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press

A Greek Orthodox priest was shot Saturday while he was closing his church in the French city of Lyon, and authorities locked down part of the city to hunt for the assailant, authorities said.

The priest, a Greek citizen, is in a local hospital with life-threatening injuries after being shot twice in the abdomen, a police official told The Associated Press. The attacker was alone and fired from a hunting rifle, said the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named.

Police cordoned off the largely residential neighborhood around the church, and detained one person who resembled descriptions of the gunman but was unarmed at the time of his arrest, the Lyon prosecutor said in a statement. It said investigators are trying to determine his identity.

As night fell on Lyon, an Associated Press reporter saw police tape and emergency vehicles throughout the neighborhood. National police tweeted that “a serious public security incident” was under way.

The reason for the shooting was unclear. It happened two days after an Islamic extremist knife attack at a Catholic church in the French city of Nice that killed three people, and amid ongoing geopolitical tensions caricatures mocking the Muslim Prophet Muhammad published in satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

The interior minister activated a special emergency team to monitor the manhunt, and the Lyon prosecutor opened an investigation for attempted murder.

“No theory is favored, no theory is ruled out,” Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet told reporters at the scene. “We don’t know at this stage the motive for this attack.”

Antoine Callot, the pastor at another Greek Orthodox church in Lyon, identified the wounded priest as Nikolas Kakavelakis, a 45-year-old father of two. Callot told The AP that the Greek Orthodox community in Lyon has not received any threats, but said he immediately asked police for security protection at his church after the shooting.

Residents and a local police patrol heard shots near the church, and when officers arrived they saw an individual running away and found the wounded priest by the back door of the church, the Lyon prosecutor said in a statement.

The government has been promising extra security at churches, mosques and other religious sites for several days now, but AP reporters have seen little visible sign of an increased police or military presence. No one was guarding the church targeted Saturday in Lyon, or the church attacked in Nice on Thursday.

Synagogues And Jewish Schools Closing In France Due To Fears Of More Terror Attacks

All Synagogues & Jewish Schools In Nice Closed On Fears Of Islamic Terror Attacks

Tyler Durden

The large Jewish community in Nice, France is on edge this weekend following the horrific beheading of an elderly woman and the fatal stabbing of two others at the city's Notre Dame church on Thursday.

The killer has been identified as 21-year old migrant Brahim Issaoui who recently arrived from Tunisia. The man had shouted "Allahu Akbar" just before police shot him. The man had been carrying a Koran. French President Emmanuel Macron said in the wake of the attack that "France is under attack from Islamist terrorists." 

"We are being attacked [for] our values: Freedom and the refusal to give in to terrorism," he added of the second major Islamic terror attack this month. More than two weeks ago teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded in a northern Paris suburb after showing Charlie Hebdo cartoons to his students.

Multiple Middle East countries, including Lebanon and Pakistan witnessed large Muslim protests in front of the French embassies in the countries Friday. Macron is being called "anti-Islamic" as tensions mount in a very similar way to what triggered the Charlie Hebdo killings. The January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre left 12 people dead after the newspaper published a series of cartoons perceived as mocking the founder of Islam Muhammad.

And now the Times of Israel reports that synagogues and Jewish schools are temporarily shutting down on fears another attack:

The Jewish community of Nice, France, is keeping its 15 synagogues and three schools closed and increasing security around kosher shops following the killing of three people in a church by a man shouting "God is great" in Arabic.

"We have decided to close all the schools tomorrow," the chief rabbi of Nice, Franck-Daniel Teboul, told Israel’s Channel 13 Thursday. “The synagogues will also be closed. Kosher shops are on alert.”

"We’re all feeling threatened," the rabbi said further.

 

More broadly French citizens living or traveling abroad have also been warned by the government that they could be under threat. 

"We Are At War" - French Official Warns Country Must Brace For More Islamist Terror Attacks

Tyler Durden

For the second time in October, France has been hit with grisly knife attacks, forcing government officials to warn that more of these terror fueled incidents by "Islamist ideology" are coming.

The latest attack occurred in the French city of Nice on Thursday. Three people were stabbed to death at a church. While an investigation is underway, French President Emmanuel Macron was quick to say the French people are under attack by "Islamist and terrorist madness."

Thursday's killings follow the gruesome beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in a northern Paris suburb earlier this month. A Chechen refugee beheaded Paty after he showed his students cartoons of prophet Muhammad in a freedom of expression lesson.

Besides Macron's warning, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told RTL radio on Friday, quoted by RT News, that the country must be prepared for future attacks as it battles Islamic extremism. 

"We are in a war against an enemy that is both inside and outside. We need to understand that there have been and there will be other events such as these terrible attacks," Darmanin said on RTL radio. 

Video: "France is at war. We are at war with an enemy outside and inside. We are at war with the Islamist ideology," he said on RTL radio. 

The government raised the terror threat to the highest "emergency" level late this week. Soldiers have been deployed to schools and churches across the country. This also comes as Macron declared a second national lockdown Friday until at least the end of November due to rising coronavirus cases. 

Powerful Aftershocks Rock Turkey And Greece, Death Toll Climbs To 28

Death toll climbs to 28 in quake that hit Turkey and Greece

AP and TOI STAFF

Over 800 people injured as rescue teams search for survivors in rubble of buildings that collapsed in Turkish city of Izmir; Israel has offered to assist in rescue efforts

Rescue teams on Saturday plowed through concrete blocks and the debris of eight collapsed buildings in search of survivors of a powerful earthquake that struck Turkey’s Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos, killing at least 28 people. More than 800 others were injured.

The quake hit Friday afternoon, toppling buildings in Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city, and triggering a small tsunami in the district of Seferihisar and on Samos. The quake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks.

Early on Saturday, onlookers cheered as rescuers lifted teenager Inci Okan out of the rubble of a devastated eight-floor apartment block in Izmir’s Bayrakli district. Her dog, Fistik, was also rescued, Sozcu newspaper reported. Friends and relatives waited outside the building for news of loved ones still trapped inside, including employees of a dental clinic that was located on the ground floor.

In another collapsed building, rescuers made contact with a 38-year-old woman and her four children — aged 3, 7 and 10-year old twins — and were working to clear a corridor to bring them out, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Two other women, aged 53 and 35, were brought out from the rubble of another toppled two-story building earlier on Saturday.

In all, around 100 people have been rescued since the earthquake, Murat Kurum, the environment and urban planning minister, told reporters. It was not clear how many more people were trapped under buildings that were leveled.

Some 5,000 rescue personnel were working on the ground, Kurum said.

At least 26 people were killed in Izmir, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted. Among them was an elderly woman who drowned.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD, said 831 were injured in Izmir and three other provinces. The health minister said 25 of them were in intensive care.

Two teenagers were killed on Samos after being struck by a collapsing wall. At least 19 people were injured on the island, with two, including a 14-year-old, being airlifted to Athens and seven hospitalized on the island, health authorities said.

Turkey registers powerful 5.0 aftershock following deadly quake

Turkish seismologists have detected a powerful 5.0 magnitude aftershock off the country's Aegean Sea coast. The jolt follows the devastating earthquake that killed at least 27 and injured over 800 across Turkey and Greece.

The aftershock was reported by Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) early on Saturday. It was not immediately clear whether the tremor inflicted more damage on the country.

The devastating earthquake, measured at 6.6 magnitude by Turkish authorities and 7.0 by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), struck the Aegean shore on Friday afternoon. More that 470 aftershocks, with at least 35 measuring over 4.0 in magnitude, followed the quake.

Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, was the worst hit by the earthquake. Several multi-story buildings have been reduced into rubble, with dozens of people trapped inside. Some 100 people have been rescued from the debris, and rescue efforts continue at eight locations.

At least 25 people were killed including one individual who has drowned, latest figures by the Turkish authorities show. Two more people died on the Greek island of Samos. More than 800 people suffered various injuries across the two countries during the disaster.

U.S. Cities Brace For Post-Election Chaos

Police departments across the nation preparing for election violence: 'I don't think we've seen anything like this in modern times'

Paul Sacca

Tensions are sky-high heading into the 2020 election, and those combustible forces will be inflamed once the winner of the presidential race is officially announced.

Businesses in major American cities have already started to board up their storefronts in anticipation of potential riots from the election. Law enforcement agencies across the country are also preparing for the worst-case scenario, which could mean widespread violence stemming from the presidential election.

"I don't think we've seen ­anything like this in modern times," Andrew Walsh, a deputy chief with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, told The Washington Post. "When you look at previous elections, there's always been the concern when you have large crowds . . . we know [that] can be a target for someone who has an agenda."

Walsh is concerned that the results of the race likely won't be available on election night, which could exacerbate the already bellicose situation.

"We just don't know how long this is going to take, or what this is going to look like, once this is over ... and no matter who wins, somebody's not going to be happy," said Walsh, who heads the Las Vegas Police Department's homeland security division.

The New York City Police Department said it would dispatch officers at each of the city's 1,201 polling locations on Election Day.

"It is no secret that this election is more contentious [than] in years past," said NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan. "For that reason ... our plan also includes the ability to respond to any type of incident that may occur."

Washington, D.C., canceled days off for police officers starting this weekend. The nation's capital "spent $100,000 on less-than-lethal munitions and chemical irritants for riot control to replenish a stockpile depleted by clashes over the summer," The Washington Post reports.

"It is widely believed that there will be civil unrest after the November election regardless of who wins," said D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham. "It is also believed that there is a strong chance of unrest when Washington, D.C., hosts the inauguration in January."

According to Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, the department has canceled all days off for its force in November.

Brown said police and emergency responders are training for "whatever scenario happens on Election Day."

"Many cities across the country are doing similar planning," Brown said. "We are all in conversations with our counterparts across the country about what we might expect, but everything is uncertain, and so we're trying as best we can to anticipate any hazard that might happen, including a weather hazard, snow might happen in our city, along with anything related to protests, embedded agitators that might loot or cause violence or destroy property."

The Boston Police Department canceled officers' time off around the election "to provide sufficient public safety."

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said his administration is planning for potential violence stemming from the election.

"What is kind of alarming to me is that the preparation that we're putting into this election we've never had to put into an election before," Walsh said. "I certainly wasn't asked in 2016, 'What's your safety plan for Election Day?'"

Austin Police Department Assistant Chief Joseph Chacon saidthe department would be on "tactical alert" during the week of the election, and that every officer would be made available to respond to civil unrest.

As early as this weekend, the Texas National Guard plans to sendup to 1,000 troops to five cities: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio.

The Beverly Hills City Council approved "an additional $4.8 million for supplemental police and security services in anticipation of the potential civil unrest around the presidential race," including "hiring two private armed security firms," according to the Beverly Hills Courier.

For the first time in Denver's history, the city is establishing a police command center in preparation for potential post-election unrest. 

Denver's Public Safety Director Murphy Robinson said he is aware of two planned protests on Election Day with upwards of 2,000 people each.

A report from The Federalist states that insurgent groups against President Donald Trump have already planned Election Day turmoil to "make sure Trump leaves the White House."

"[W]e're making plans to be in the streets before the polls even close, ready to adapt and respond to whatever comes our way," the group Shut Down DC said on its website. The purpose of the gathering is to "be together to process our feelings of hope, anger, fear and exhaustion as a community."

The New Jersey Department of Homeland Security and Preparedness issued a threat assessment in September that warned about "threats from domestic extremists and foreign adversaries have emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-government sentiment, nationwide civil unrest, and various forms of disinformation. These threats will begin to converge with the Presidential election in November in a manner not previously experienced by our nation."

Fear, Deception And Uncertain Times: Jan Markell, Jack Hibbs And Amir Tsarfati

Uncertain Times? Not At All – Pastor Jack Hibbs and Amir Tsarfati

For more Olive Tree Ministries Resources click here: http://www.olivetreeviews.org. Jan Markell hosts Pastor Jack Hibbs and Amir Tsarfati. They cover a multitude of current event topics but remind listeners that our times are not uncertain; rather, they became crystal clear starting in 1948 to the present. Find Tsarfati’s book, “The Day Approaching”, in our online store at https://store.olivetreeviews.org/prod.... We use the mobile app found at http://www.oneplace.com.

Video

The EU And NGOs Attempts To Overthrow Netanyahu

How the EU and Far Left NGOs Are Trying to Overthrow the Israeli Government of Benjamin Netanyahu

Jim Hoft 

Just like Spygate in the US, far-left NGOs are trying to bring down the conservative government of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. Israeli representative Ariel Kallner has revealed that these radical anarchist organizations are being funded by the EU – nothing short of a declaration of war on a sovereign state.

The leftist organizations protesting outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house in Balfour Street in Jerusalem are financed from abroad, mainly by the EU and Germany, as NGO Monitor’s Itai Reuveni has stated.

On Sept. 30th, Likud MK and chair of the Caucus on Combating Delegitimization & Anti-Semitism Ariel Kallner wrote to German ambassador Dr. Susanne Wasum-Rainer to complain about German funding for left-wing Human Rights Defenders Fund (HRDF), which provides legal defense to the violent protestors.

„Recent reports in the Israeli media unraveled the (HRDF) legal counsel being provided, among others, to a minority of violent protestants demonstrating in front of the official residence of the Prime Minister of Israel. This minority has been highly criticized for its bellicose behavior, first threatening and oft-injuring police officers, and finally ignoring mask-wearing and social distancing rules, thus endangering general public health,” Kallner wrote.

Writing in Israel National News, EU Parliament Budget Rapporteur Joachim Kuhs (AfD) said, “I am appalled and shocked by these revelations, and will examine this  thoroughly, including the classified files. If these accusations are true, this will be reprimanded in my budget report.”

As Chairman of the Knesset Caucus on Combating Delegitimization, Kallner wrote: “I would like to express my sincere concern about this intervention in Israel’s internal affairs that constitutes an undermining of its sovereignty.”

“I find it inconceivable that the State of Israel would fund legal protection for demonstrators against the German Bundestag, even less a violent minority harming law-enforcement officers and overall public health”, Kallner wrote. “Therefore, I enjoin you to muster the necessary effort in monitoring, tracing and halting the funding for HRDF and other relevant Israeli NGOs.”

More...

Is A 'Dark Winter' Coming?

The Darkest Winter

Video

France Faces Second Total Lockdown

Emmanuel Macron is selling out French sovereignty to the EU with a second total lockdown

By Rachel Marsden

President Macron’s decision to return France to lockdown could have serious repercussions, particularly if he has to borrow heavily from the European Union to compensate struggling businesses.

It’s common for French hospitals to be overwhelmed by seasonal viruses. French newspaper headlines dating back to January 2017 and January 2018 refer to hospitals being overwhelmed by the simple flu. The government has never bombarded those of us who live in France with daily infection rates, then sent healthy citizens into house arrest for months – until now. It’s worth asking why.

At the beginning of September, two high-ranking sources – one retired from the French Interior Ministry, the other a retired general – said that France would be sent back into total lockdown by the beginning of November. Their assertion was hard to believe, given that, at that point, everything had nearly returned to normal in the wake of the two-month total lockdown from March to May, which relegated the entire country’s population to their homes for 23 hours per day under the pretext of Covid-19. One even proposed a date for the next lockdown: October 29.

Fast forward to the end of September. Bars, gyms and swimming pools are ordered closed, followed a couple of weeks later by an imposed curfew in major metropolitan areas from 9pm to 6am. Then on October 28, French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation to announce a second full national lockdown to begin at midnight on October 29.

Only this time, it would be slightly different, Macron said. Education and work would continue. Schools would remain open, but universities and virtually everyone else not working in a factory, field or public service, would have to transition to remote working from home online – subsequently described on the government’s website as “100 percent mandatory wherever it’s possible.”

This crisis is serving as an accelerator, resulting in the implementation of certain measures that the leadership in Paris and Brussels have been keen to invoke for some time. Macron, the minister of economy and industry during the tenure of former French president Francois Hollande, has long been pushing for a massive digital transition.

Already on September 14, Macron announced €7 billion in investment in the digital economy, with €2.3 billion specifically allocated to “accelerating the digital transition of businesses.” 

Covid has now effectively become a pretext for nothing short of a total labor revolution – one that just happens to align with the European Union’s stated commitment to “being a frontrunner in implementing the 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development, together with its member states.”According to the supranational government’s website: “The EU has embarked on a transition towards a low-carbon, climate neutral, resource efficient and circular economy that goes hand in hand with increased security, prosperity, equality and inclusion.” Massive teleworking conveniently aligns with that objective.

The drastic measures introduced by Macron amid the sanitary crisis are also chipping away at France’s sovereignty, increasing its dependence on the political powers of the European Union in Brussels that control the European Central Bank (ECB) responsible for alleviating French debt.

Macron has promised French businesses, forced into administrative closure under this new lockdown, that the government will cover most of the salaries of workers forced into partial unemployment, and up to €10,000 per month for lost business revenues.

More...

Protests Against Macron In France Grow To Tens Of Thousands

‘Death to France’: Tens of thousands of Muslims protest against Macron

 AGENCIES

Tens of thousands of Muslims, from Pakistan to Lebanon to Jerusalem, poured out of prayer services to join anti-France protests on Friday, as the French president’s vow to protect the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad continues to roil the Muslim world.

Hardline Islamic groups across the region have seized on the French government’s staunch secularist stance as an affront to Islam, rallying their supporters and stirring up rage.

Demonstrations in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad turned violent as some 2,000 people who tried to march toward the French Embassy were pushed back by police firing tear gas and beating protesters with batons. Crowds of Islamist activists hanged an effigy of French President Emmanuel Macron from a highway overpass after pounding it furiously with their shoes. Several demonstrators were wounded in clashes with police as authorities pushed to evict activists from the area surrounding the embassy.

In Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, an estimated 10,000 followers of the radical Islamic Tehreek-e-Labbaik party celebrating the Mawlid, the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, took to the streets. They chanted anti-France slogans, raised banners and clogged major roads en route to a Sufi shrine.

More...

New Zealand's 'Quarantine Camps' Will Be Mandatory

New Zealand announces ‘quarantine camps’ where positive patients will be forcibly placed

JARRETT STAFF WRITER

New Zealand is taking the term ‘lockdown’ to a whole new level. 

With only 25 coronavirus deaths among a population of nearly 5 million, medical officers are now being directed to manage all positive confirmed cases in a quarantine camp, according to the Director-General of Health, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield.

“I am now directing medical officers of health that all confirmed cases are to be managed in a quarantine facility. 

Now this is different to how positive cases were managed when we were last at levels 4 and indeed 3, and shows how serious we are about limiting any risk of ongoing transmission even in self isolation and including to others in the household. This will apply to any cases and also close family members who might be at risk as appropriate,” Bloomfield said. 

The nation has 32 managed isolation and quarantine facilities with operational capacity for 6260 people, Stuff reports. 

But that’s not the worst part.

Patients will be held against their will at the quarantine camps until testing negative for the virus.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, of the center-left New Zealand Labour Party, announced in a video that if people sent to the quarantine facility refuse to be tested, they will be required to remain at the camp for an additional two weeks after their initial two-week stay, calling the warning a “pretty good incentive” to get tested for the virus. 

“If someone refuses, in our facilities, to be tested, they have to keep staying. So they won’t be able to leave after fourteen days, they have to stay on for another fourteen days. So it’s a pretty good incentive. You either get your tests done and make sure you cleared, or we will keep you in the facility longer. So I think people — most people will look at that and say, ‘I’ll take the test.’” 

Starting Tuesday, anyone flying to New Zealand must have confirmed reservations at a quarantine camp. Passengers will be prohibited from boarding their flight unless they present their government issued voucher as proof. 

Earthquake Hits Turkey And Greece: 20 Deaths, Over 700 Injured,

Earthquake hits Greece and Turkey, bringing deaths and floods

BBC

A powerful earthquake has struck off Turkey's Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos, destroying homes and killing at least 22 people.

The 7.0 magnitude tremor was centred off Turkey's Izmir province, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Turkey put the magnitude lower, at 6.6, saying 20 people had died and 786 were injured in the province of Izmir. On Samos, two teenagers were killed.

The shallow tremor triggered a mini-tsunami that flooded Izmir and Samos. 

The authorities in Izmir, the provincial capital, are now setting up a tent area to house about 2,000 people overnight, amid fears that more buildings could collapse.

The authorities said that 70 people had been rescued from under the rubble. 

Rescuers continued to dig through concrete blocks after darkness fell, hoping to find more survivors.

The USGS said the quake - which was felt as far away as Athens and Istanbul - struck at a depth of 10km (six miles), although Turkish officials said it was 16km below ground.

Turkey and Greece both sit on fault lines and earthquakes are common.

In Izmir, Turkey's third largest city with the population of nearly three million, many people were seen running out into the streets in panic and fear after the quake struck. At least 20 buildings collapsed.

Videos have been posted on social media appearing to show the moment one multi-storey building went down, the BBC's Orla Guerin in Istanbul reports. Other footage shows local people scrambling over rubble looking for survivors.

There were reports of flooding in the city after the sea level rose, and some fishermen are said to be missing.

"It was a really strong shaker almost enough to knock you off your feet. Running out of the house with my children was like a drunken wobble," Chris Bedford, a retired British teacher who lives in Urla, west of Izmir, told the BBC.

One of the 20 confirmed victims drowned, the Turkish emergencies agency said.

Yasar Keles, an official in Sigacik, near Izmir, told BBC Turkish that a person died after their wheelchair was hit and overturned by the rising water.

Officials later said that 70 people had been rescued from under the rubble. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government would help those affected by the quake "with all the means available to our state".

In Greece, two teenagers were killed when a wall collapsed on Samos. Eight people were injured across the island. 

A mini-tsunami flooded the port of Samos and a number of buildings were damaged. Greek officials put the magnitude of the tremor at 6.7.

"We felt it very strongly," local journalist Manos Stefanakis told the BBC, adding that smaller aftershocks were continuing.

He said it was the biggest tremor to have hit the island since 1904.

Fareid Atta, another Samos-based journalist, told the BBC that the damage was "quite extensive along the seafront" of the island's main town.

"Many businesses will be going under after this," he said.

Residents were urged to stay outdoors and keep away from coastal areas. About 45,000 people live on Samos.

Powerful Earthquake Rocks Turkey, Greece; Tsunami Reported

 Tyler Durden

Watch Live: Local Turkish Broadcaster, 24 TV, Covering Izmir Earthquake 

Update (1307 ET):  By Friday evening, rescuers searched through collapsed buildings in Izmir, Turkey after a powerful earthquake killed at least 12 and left hundreds wounded.