Quake death toll rises to nine

Rescuers and villagers sifting through earthquake rubble recovered the bodies of two more people today, raising the death toll in eastern Turkey to nine.

The quake in the province of Erzurum last night collapsed several mud brick homes in at least three villages. Seven of the dead were children, the Anatolia news agency said. At least 20 people were injured.

The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1, was centred in the town of Cat, 540 miles east of Ankara, the capital, the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory said.

People across Erzurum province rushed from buildings into the streets for safety, said governor Mustafa Malay.

Private NTV television said authorities moved people who were made homeless to schools and sports centres around the province.

Malay told state-run TRT television that a house in the small village of Kucukgecit, near the town of Askale, collapsed and killed four children inside. Four other people, including two more children, were also killed in Kucukgecit, Anatolia reported, while another child died in the nearby Karaybuyuk village.

Malay said the quake, which was felt in other provinces, collapsed 15 houses in Kucukgecit. Some government buildings in the province were cracked.

People calling for news about loved ones temporarily jammed phone lines, and power in some villages was cut.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which lies over active fault lines. In 1999, two quakes killed about 18,000 people in north-west Turkey.