At least 31 people have been killed and more than 1,600 injured in a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey, reports Sky News.
Earthquake hits Turkey
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey on Friday, January 24, leaving at least 18 people dead and more than 500 others injured.
The powerful quake jolted the Elazig province, some 750 km east of the capital Ankara. It took place around 8:55 p.m. local time (1755 GMT) at the epicenter, the town of Sivrice, according to the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute at Bogazici University.
Rescue process underway
Forty-five people have been rescued so far, with more than 20 feared to remain trapped, officials say. Tremors were also felt in neighbouring Syria, Lebanon and Iran.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the deaths included 13 people in Elazig and five others in the neighboring Malatya province.
More than 400 aftershocks were recorded, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (Afad) said.
Rescue teams worked through the night, using their hands, drills and diggers to try to find people in the rubble of fallen buildings.
They also brought beds and tents for those displaced, and warned residents against returning to damaged buildings because of the danger of aftershocks.
Afad said that most of the casualties were in Elazig province, and deaths were also reported in the neighbouring province of Malatya. Some 1,607 people were injured by the earthquake, according to the latest count.
Reports said an elderly woman was pulled alive from the rubble about 19 hours after the earthquake.
Another woman left buried was saved after calling her relatives from her mobile phone and telling them where she was trapped.
But a 12-year-old boy rescued from the wreckage later died in hospital.
“It was very scary – furniture fell on top of us. We rushed outside,” AFP news agency quoted 47-year-old Melahat Can, who lives in the city of Elazig, as saying.
“Our houses collapsed…we cannot go inside them,” a 32-year-old man from Sivrice told Reuters.
Emergency supplies despatched
The region struck by the quake, some 550km (340 miles) east of the capital Ankara, is remote and sparsely populated, so details of damage and fatalities could be slow to emerge.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled plans in Istanbul on Saturday to instead visit the affected area and attend the funeral of two of the victims.
“We are doing everything we can as the state and nation, and we will continue to do so. Our efforts at all rescue sites will continue,” he said.
In its advisory on Saturday morning, the emergency authority said the overnight temperature had fallen to -8C (17.6F), with similar cold expected the following night.
The Turkish Red Crescent has also dispatched hundreds of personnel with emergency supplies, it said.
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Source: Sky News
