-
Source: Reuters -
Related
A strong earthquake has killed at least 51 villagers in a remote
part of eastern Turkey, officials say, and aftershocks continued
for hours while rescuers searched for trapped survivors.
People were sleeping in their mud-brick houses when the
6.0-magnitude quake struck at 4:32 am local time (3.32pm NZT) in a
sparsely-populated area of high steppe in Eastern Anatolia.
"There was a lot of fear and panic among the people. It lasted
about a minute," Nursel Sengezer, a Dogan News Agency correspondent
in Elazig province, told broadcaster CNN Turk.
"We felt it very strongly and everyone tried to get out onto the
street."
Turkey is criss-crossed with faultlines and frequently suffers
earthquakes. A large earthquake measuring 7.4 killed about 18,000
people in August 1999.
On Monday, families huddled in the open around fires lit to keep
them warm, as the ground shook with more than 40 aftershocks, the
largest of which had a magnitude of 5.5.
The quake toppled the minarets of three mosques in stricken
villages in the Basyurt region of Elazig, according to provincial
governor Muammer Erol.
Television images from the area showed women crying and embracing
amid the ruins of their one-storey houses, and cars and ambulances
ferrying injured to a hospital in the nearby town of
Kovancilar.
"I ask my citizens in the region not to go into damaged houses
because earthquakes and aftershocks are continuing," Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting of his AK Party.
Mud-brick houses
Erdogan lamented the loss of life due to the vulnerability of the
traditional mud-brick village homes, and pledged to rebuild houses
using stronger materials.
Paramilitary and police directed operations on the outskirts of
affected villages, where crowds had gathered, and a Red Crescent
team had reached the area and set up a crisis centre.
Health Minister Recep Akdag, who had travelled to Elazig along with
Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek, put the death toll at 51,
revising the figure from 57 given earlier by officials.
There were no reports of any damage to the strategic hydroelectric
Keban Dam, further west in Elazig. The Keban Dam was the first and
most upstream dam built by Turkey on the Euphrates River as part of
the Southeast Anatolia Project.
