Turkey Earthquake

Turkey Earthquake
Turkey Earthquake : Earthquake hits eastern Turkey, at least 41 deadANKARA, Turkey – A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6, struck eastern Turkey on Monday, killing at least 41 people and demolished a house at least six small villages, the government said.

Earthquake-affected villages near the town of Kovancilar and fall of stone or mud brick houses and minarets of mosques, officials and media reports said. The areas most affected village was Okcular, where about 17 people were killed.

Government crisis center, said about 100 people were also injured in the quake, which occurred at 4:32 am (0232 GMT, 9 pm EST Sunday) in the province of Elazig, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) east of Ankara , the state capital, and it caught many people in their sleep.

And was centered near the village of Basyurt, followed by more than 30 aftershocks, the strongest measuring 4.1, according to Istanbul’s Kandilli Observatory Seismology Center.

Emergency workers were trying to rescue four people from the debris, said Istanbul Governor Muammer Erol.

CNN) CNN Turk television said the dead included four young sisters under the rubble.

“Everything has been knocked down, and there is no stone in place,” said Yadin Apaydin, in charge of the village of Yukari Kanatli, where he said that at least three villagers died.

Okcular authorities blocked access to the village, to facilitate the entry and exit of ambulances and rescue teams to the villages in the narrow roads. Relatives rushed to the village for news of their loved ones.

“The village was razed to the ground”, Okcular administrator Hassan Demirdag NTV television said in private.

The quake was felt in the neighboring provinces of Tunceli, Bingol, Diyarbakir, where residents fled to the streets in panic and spent the night in the open.

Some of the injuries occurred during the panic, when people were jumping from windows or balconies. Dogan news agency showed footage of people so in the transfer of the injured to hospitals in cars and taxis.

Kandilli Observatory and director Mustafa Erdik, urged residents not to enter the destroyed houses, warning that it might undermine the aftershocks may last for several days.

Television footage showed rescue workers and soldiers in the rubble and Okcular people watching. The two women sat on the bed wrapped in blankets. Turkey’s Red Crescent Organization, started setting up tents in the region.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, many of which are located above the North Anatolian fault. In 1999, two powerful earthquakes hit northwestern Turkey, killing about 18,000 people.

In 2007, an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the damaged buildings in Elazig, briefly trapping a woman under the rubble. In 2003, an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter collapsed dormitory in schools in neighboring province of Bingol province, killing 83 children. The collapse was blamed on poor construction.