Deadly quake strikes Turkey
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At least 51 people are now known to have died in a powerful earthquake that shook a remote province of eastern Turkey early this morning.
The quake struck at 4:32 am local time with a force of 6.0 on the Richter scale, destroying buildings and minarets in at least six villages in the sparsely populated Elazig Province. More than forty aftershocks followed, some nearly as powerful as the initial quake.
Witnesses described scenes of mass panic, with many people suffering injuries as they jumped from windows and balconies. The village of Okcular, where 17 people died, was almost completely destroyed.
“There was a lot of fear and panic among the people. It lasted about a minute. We felt it very strongly and everyone tried to get out onto the street”, Nursel Sengezer, a correspondent in Elazig, told CNN Turkey.
Casualties were high as the quake struck at a time when most people were at home sleeping. The Red Crescent has set up a crisis centre in the area and rescuers have begun the search for people still buried under the rubble.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek and three other government ministers have arrived quake zone to assess the damage.
Much of Turkey lies on top of the Anatolian fault and the country frequently experiences earthquakes. In August 1999 about 18,000 people died in a quake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso offered condolences and "solidarity" and asked the new EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton to keep him informed, "so that assistance can be mobilised as necessary."
The Turkish earthquake comes after devastating quakes in Haiti and Chile. The EU’s Catherine Ashton was in Haiti last week, promising addition aid on top of the €609 million already given by Brussels.
