WUNRN
EASTERN TURKEY EARTHQUAKE -
TRAUMA FOR WOMEN & GIRLS
Abdurrahman
Antakyali / Anadolu Agency via Reuters
A survivor is carried to the ambulance
after an earthquake in Tabanli village near the eastern Turkish city of
ANKARA, Turkey —
Cries of panic and horror filled the air as
a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey on Sunday, killing at least 85
people as buildings pancaked and crumpled into mounds of rubble.
Tens of
thousands fled into the streets running, screaming or trying to reach relatives
on cell phones as apartment and office buildings cracked or collapsed. As the
full extent of the damage became clear, survivors dug in with shovels or even
their bare hands, desperately trying to rescue the trapped and the injured.
"My
wife and child are inside! My 4-month-old baby is inside!" CNN-Turk
television showed one young man sobbing outside a collapsed building in Van,
the provincial capital.
The
hardest hit area was Ercis, an eastern city of 75,000 close to the Iranian
border, which lies on one of Turkey's most earthquake-prone zones. The bustling
city of Van, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) to the south, also sustained
substantial damage. Highways in the area caved in and Van's airport was
damaged, forcing flights to be diverted.
State-run
TRT television reported that 59 people were killed in Ercis, 25 others died in
Van and a child died in the nearby province of Bitlis.
Up to 80
buildings collapsed in Ercis, including a dormitory, and 10 buildings collapsed
in Van, the Turkish Red Crescent said. Some highways also caved in.
Residents
in Van and Ercis lit camp fires, preparing to spend the night outdoors, after
hundreds were treated for injuries. Others fled seeking shelter with relatives
in nearby villages.
"There
are so many dead ... there is too much destruction," Ercis Mayor Zulfikar
Arapoglu told NTV. "We need urgent aid. We need medics."
Rescue
efforts went deep into the night under generator-powered floodlights. Workers
tied steel rods around large concrete slabs in Van, then lifted them with heavy
machinery.
Residents
sobbed outside the ruins of one flattened eight-story building, hoping that
missing relatives would be found. Witnesses said eight people were pulled from
the rubble, but frequent aftershocks hampered search efforts. By late evening,
some joy emerged as a teenage girl was pulled out alive.
U.S.
scientists recorded over 100 aftershocks in eastern Turkey within ten hours of
the quake, including one with a magnitude of 5.9. "There are many people
under the rubble," Veysel Keser, the mayor of Celebibag, told NTV.
"People are in agony, we can hear their screams for help."
Nazmi Gur,
a legislator from Van, said his nephew's funeral ceremony was cut short due to
the quake and he rushed back to help.
"We
managed to rescue a few people, but I saw at least five bodies," Gur told
The Associated Press.
"It
was such a powerful temblor. It lasted for such a long time," he said.
"But now we have no electricity, there is no heating, everyone is outside
in the cold."
Authorities
had no information yet on remote villages but the governor was touring the
region by helicopter and the government sent in tents, field kitchens and
blankets.
Houses
also collapsed in the nearby province of Bitlis, where an 8-year-old girl was
killed, and two mosque minarets toppled over in the province of Mus.
The
earthquake also shook buildings in neighboring Armenia and Iran.
In the
Armenian capital of Yerevan, 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Ercis, people
rushed into the streets in fear but no damage or injuries were reported.
Armenia was the site of a devastating earthquake in 1988 that killed 25,000
people.
Sunday's
quake caused panic in several Iranian towns close to the Turkish border and
caused cracks in buildings in the city of Chaldoran, Iranian state TV reported.
Leaders
around the world conveyed their condolences and offered assistance.