51 killed as earthquake rocks Turkey

A strong, pre-dawn earthquake knocked down stone and mud-brick houses, barns and minarets in eastern Turkey yesterday, killing 51 people in five villages, the government said.

The earthquake surprised many residents as they slept, crumpling buildings into piles of rubble. Panicked survivors fled into narrow village streets, some climbing out of windows, as nearly 80 aftershocks measuring up to 5.5 and 5.3 magnitude rattled the region.

The Kandilli seismology centre said the 6.0-magnitude quake hit at 4:32am (0232 GMT) near the village of Basyurt in a remote, sparsely populated area of Elazig province. The region is 550km east of Ankara, the capital.

The US Geological Survey listed the quake at 5.9 magnitude.

The government initially put the death toll at 57 but later lowered it to 51. In addition to the deaths, 34 people were being treated for injuries, Turkey’s crisis centre said.

The damage appeared worst in the village of Okcular, where at least 15 of the village’s 900 residents were killed, the Elazig governor’s office said.

As relatives rushed in for news of their loved ones, authorities blocked off the area so ambulances and rescue teams could manoeuvre up Okcular’s narrow, steep roads. Residents lit fires to keep warm in the winter cold, with snow-covered mountains in the background.

“The village is totally flattened,” village administrator Hasan Demirdag told private NTV television.

Resident Ali Riza Ferhat said he was woken up by the jolt.

“I tried to get out of the door but it wouldn’t open. I came out of the window and started helping my neighbours,” he told NTV television. “We removed six bodies.”

Video footage showed men using shovels and their bare hands to dig two bodies out from under piles of dirt, rubble and concrete blocks that used to be homes. Both bodies were covered in blankets and carried away. One appeared to be a baby or young child.

Women in veils gathered near the rescue scenes, some crying.

“Everything has been knocked down, there is not a stone in place,” said Yadin Apaydin, administrator for the village of Yukari Kanatli, where three people died.

Another 15 people were killed in the nearby village of Yukari Demirci.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, much of which lies on top of two main fault lines. In 1999, two earthquakes struck northwestern Turkey, killing about 18,000 people. In 2003, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake killed 177 people in Bingol, including 84 children whose school dormitory collapsed.

The Elazig quake followed deadly temblors in Haiti and Chile, but Bernard Doft, the seismologist for the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in Utrecht, said there was no direct connection between the three.