Tweet
1,000 feared dead in Turkish quake
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/1000-feared-dead-in-turkish-quake-16067531.html
Sunday, 23 October 2011
A powerful earthquake has hit the eastern Turkish city of Van
At least 85 people have been killed with hundreds more feared dead
after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey, collapsing
dozens of buildings and causing widespread panic.
Tens of thousands of residents fled into the streets, while desperate
survivors dug into the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue
the trapped and the injured as the scale of the quake became clear.
Turkey's state-run television station TRT said a group of inmates
escaped from a prison after the earthquake struck. It gave no other
detail and it was not immediately known how many had fled.
TRT had earlier reported that 59 people were killed and 150 injured in
the eastern town of Ercis. Around 25 others were killed in Van, while
a child died in the nearby province of Bitlis.
Turkish scientists estimated that up to 1,000 people could already be
dead, basing the calculation on low local housing standards and the
size of the quake.
The hardest-hit location was Ercis, a city of 75,000 close to the
Iranian border, which lies on the Ercis Fault in one of Turkey's most
earthquake-prone zones. Van, about 55 miles to the south, also
sustained substantial damage.
Up to 80 buildings collapsed in Ercis, including a dormitory, and 10
buildings collapsed in Van, the Turkish Red Crescent said. Some
motorways also caved in, CNN-Turk television reported.
The Kandilli observatory, Turkey's main seismography centre, said
Sunday's quake was capable of killing many people.
"We are estimating a death toll between 500 and 1,000," Mustafa Erdik,
head of the Kandilli observatory, told a televised news conference.
The earthquake also shook buildings in neighbouring Armenia and Iran.
In the Armenian capital of Yerevan, people rushed into the streets
fearing buildings would collapse but no damage or injuries were
immediately reported. Armenia was the site of a devastating earthquake
in 1988 that killed 25,000 people.
Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/1000-feared-dead-in-turkish-quake-16067531.html#ixzz1bdUrGAvd
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/1000-feared-dead-in-turkish-quake-16067531.html
Sunday, 23 October 2011
A powerful earthquake has hit the eastern Turkish city of Van
At least 85 people have been killed with hundreds more feared dead
after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey, collapsing
dozens of buildings and causing widespread panic.
Tens of thousands of residents fled into the streets, while desperate
survivors dug into the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue
the trapped and the injured as the scale of the quake became clear.
Turkey's state-run television station TRT said a group of inmates
escaped from a prison after the earthquake struck. It gave no other
detail and it was not immediately known how many had fled.
TRT had earlier reported that 59 people were killed and 150 injured in
the eastern town of Ercis. Around 25 others were killed in Van, while
a child died in the nearby province of Bitlis.
Turkish scientists estimated that up to 1,000 people could already be
dead, basing the calculation on low local housing standards and the
size of the quake.
The hardest-hit location was Ercis, a city of 75,000 close to the
Iranian border, which lies on the Ercis Fault in one of Turkey's most
earthquake-prone zones. Van, about 55 miles to the south, also
sustained substantial damage.
Up to 80 buildings collapsed in Ercis, including a dormitory, and 10
buildings collapsed in Van, the Turkish Red Crescent said. Some
motorways also caved in, CNN-Turk television reported.
The Kandilli observatory, Turkey's main seismography centre, said
Sunday's quake was capable of killing many people.
"We are estimating a death toll between 500 and 1,000," Mustafa Erdik,
head of the Kandilli observatory, told a televised news conference.
The earthquake also shook buildings in neighbouring Armenia and Iran.
In the Armenian capital of Yerevan, people rushed into the streets
fearing buildings would collapse but no damage or injuries were
immediately reported. Armenia was the site of a devastating earthquake
in 1988 that killed 25,000 people.
Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/1000-feared-dead-in-turkish-quake-16067531.html#ixzz1bdUrGAvd