An earthquake shook central Turkey at 00.45 am on Sunday measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale, only minor damages were caused officials said. The centre of the quake was in Bala, near to the capital of Ankara, Istanbul's Kandilli Observatory said. The village most affected by the tremor was Saripinar village, where 170 mud-and-brick houses mostly suffered cracks, the Anatolian news agency reported. No one was hurt in the quake.

Earthquakes are a regular occurrence in Turkey, as the country sits on top of the North Anatolian Fault line. The biggest earthquake in recent history was the 1999 qukae in which 17,000 people died. The killer quake measured up to 7.4 on the Richter scale.