Over 1,000 feared dead

The quake-hit Tabanli village in Turkey's eastern province of Van. A major earthquake collapsed several buildings yesterday, trapping an unknown number of citizens under debris. Photo: AFP

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey yesterday, killing at least 45 people in one town alone as buildings collapsed, Turkish media said.
The quake struck close to the city of Van, where Anatolia news agency said at least 50 people were injured. Rescuers were scrambling to pull people from dozens of collapsed buildings in Van and other nearby towns.
The head of Turkey's seismology institute said hundreds of people may have been killed.
"We estimate around 1,000 buildings are damaged and our estimate is for hundreds of lives lost. It could be 500 or 1,000," said Mustafa Erdik, the general manager of the Kandilli Observatory.
The earthquake struck at 10:41 GMT (13:41 local time) with its epicentre 16km north-east of Van, the US Geological Survey said. It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, also centred north of Van, including two of magnitude 5.6.
Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said 25-30 buildings had collapsed in Ercis and 10 had collapsed in Van.
According to the Turkish Red Crescent, 25 buildings containing flats and one housing a dormitory had collapsed in Ercis, AP said.
Zulfikar Arapoglu, the mayor of Ercis, told NTV: "There are so many dead. Several buildings have collapsed, there is too much destruction."
"We need urgent aid, we need medics," he is reported by the Associated Press news agency as saying.
Turkish television said 45 people had been killed and 150 injured in the town of Ercis - some 60km north of Van.
Television pictures from Van showed damaged buildings and vehicles crushed by masonry, with panicked residents spilling into the streets. Local official Veysel Keser said: "Many multi-floor buildings, hotels and a dormitory were collapsed."
"We can hear voices from the collapsed buildings," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
As night fell, rescuers struggled to pull people from the rubble, working by torchlight, using their hands and shovels. Temperatures are expected to drop to near zero degree overnight. The quake has cut electricity and telephone lines and the authorities in some areas have cut gas to avoid the risk of fire.
The BBC's David O'Byrne, in Istanbul, said more search and rescue teams were being sent from other parts of the country.
Turkey is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it sits on major geological fault lines.
Two earthquakes in 1999 with a magnitude of more than 7 killed almost 20,000 people in densely populated parts of the north-west of the country.