Thirty dead in Turkish earthquake

A powerful quake has killed 30 people and injured 150 others in the eastern town of Ercis, according to state television.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey today, collapsing about 45 buildings, according to the deputy prime minister.

The worst damage hit the town of Ercis, in the mountainous eastern province of Van, close to the Iranian border.

State-run TRT television said at least 30 people were killed and 150 others were injured in Ercis.

The quake toppled some buildings in central Van as well as the neighbouring town of Ercis, officials said. Several strong aftershocks were also reported.

“There are so many dead. Several buildings have collapsed, there is too much destruction,” said Zulfikar Arapoglu, the mayor of Ercis told NTV television. “We need urgent aid, we need medics.”

Residents spilled out into the streets in panic as rescue workers struggled to evacuate people, believed to be trapped under collapsed buildings, television footage showed.

In Van, at least two buildings collapsed, Bekir Kaya, the mayor of Van, told NTV. One of them was a seven-story building, according to the state-run Anatolia news agency.

“The telephone system is jammed due to panic and we can’t assess the entire damage immediately,” Mr Kaya said.

Turkey’s main seismography centre said the 7.2-magnitude quake that hit the east of the country could have killed up to 1,000 people.

The Kandilli observatory’s estimate is based on the strength of the quake and the structure of the housing in the area.

“We are estimating a death toll between 500 and 1,000,” Mustafa Erdik, head of the Kandilli observatory, told a televised news conference.

The deputy prime minister said around 45 buildings have collapsed in the town of Ercis and the city of Van. Ercis sits on a geological fault line.

The US Geological Survey originally gave the magnitude as 7.3 but later corrected it to 7.2. It said the quake had a depth of 20 kilometres (12.4 miles), which is relatively shallow and could potentially cause more damage.

The quake’s epicentre was in the village of Tabanli in eastern Van province, bordering Iran. But it was felt in several provinces across the area.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which is crossed by faultlines.

In 1999, about 18,000 people were killed by two powerful earthquakes that struck north-western Turkey.