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7.3 magnitude quake hits Turkey, 1000 feared dead
PTI | Ankara, October 23, 2011 19:31
Tags : earthquake | turkey | magnitude | ritcher scale | 1000 killed |
Tags : earthquake | turkey | magnitude | ritcher scale | 1000 killed |
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake in eastern Turkey on Sunday has killed 1000 people, the head of a seismological institute in Istanbul said.
"500 to 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the quake," Professor Mustafa Erdik, director of the Kandilli seismological institute in Istanbul, told a news conference.
At least 50 people were taken to hospital in the city of Van, Anatolia news agency said. There were no immediate reports of deaths but officials warned that they were struggling to assess the full extent of the damage.
"Two buildings collapsed," Van Mayor Bekir Kaya told the NTV television in an initial assessment.
"People are panicked. The telecommunication services have collapsed. We cannot reach anybody," he added.
The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 7.3 magnitude and said that an aftershock was of 5.6 magnitude had also been registered. The epicentre of the aftershock, which occurred at 1056 GMT, was located 19 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Van, the institute added.
The depth of the initial quake was 7.2 kilometers (4.5 miles), according to the US seismologists. The depth of the aftershock was 20 kilometers, they added.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck around 1041 GMT, was at Tabanli in Van province, said the Kandilli seismological institute in Istanbul.
The Turkish institute said that there were two aftershocks which in particular impacted on Ilikaynak and Gedikbulak villages.
The quake was also felt in neighbouring provinces, Turkish media reported.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled his official programme and was due to visit the quake region on Sunday, said NTV.
Van, a city of 380,000 inhabitants, is located more than 1,200 kilometres from the capital Ankara.
The city airport received damage from the quake and planes are being directed to the Erzurum province, around 400 kilometres from Van, media reported.
Turkey is earthquake-prone due to being crossed by several fault lines.
In 1999, two strong quakes in the heavily-populated and industrialised regions of northwest Turkey left some 20,000 dead.
An earthquake in Kutahya province in 1970 killed more than 1,000 people.
Issue Dated: Feb 5, 2017
