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Thread: Report: Death toll rises to 217 after massive earthquake in Turkey

  1. #1

    Report: Death toll rises to 217 after massive earthquake in Turkey



    From Yesim Comert, CNN
    2011-10-23T11:16:58Z

    Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- Battling near-freezing temperatures and darkness, rescue workers and residents in eastern Turkey early Monday scoured the wreckage wrought by the country's most-powerful earthquake in more than a decade, hoping to find survivors.

    They used flashlights, shovels, heavy machinery and their hands to lift the debris, and climbed over collapsed buildings in search of victims.

    At least 217 people were killed in Sunday's quake, said Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin, the Anatolian news agency reported Monday. The previous official toll was 138.

    Another 350 people were injured in the quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said had a magnitude of 7.2.

    Roughly 20 aftershocks rattled eastern Turkey in one of the nation's poorest areas. The largest had a magnitude of 6.0.

    One hundred people were killed in Van, while 117 were killed in Ercis, said Sahin, the Anatolian news agency reported. It also said that schools will be closed for a week in Van.

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters the death toll is likely to climb, as rescue teams work through the night to save people still trapped in the rubble.

    The prime minister said 55 buildings collapsed in Ercis on the north shore of Lake Van, while the Turkish Red Crescent had said earlier that some 25 apartment buildings and a student dormitory collapsed in the town.

    Local rescuers took many wounded people out of the dormitory, a Red Crescent statement said, without saying exactly how many.

    A health services building also collapsed, along with part of a hospital, CNN sister network CNN Turk reported. The injured were being treated in the hospital's garden.

    "People are really scared," said CNN Turk reporter Nevsin Mengu. "The survivors are now trying to survive the cold weather."

    She said many residents are not returning to their houses, but sleeping on rooftops or in the streets. It was not clear whether their homes were uninhabitable, or whether they were just too frightened. Electricity and natural gas were off in most of the city.

    Speaking from Van, Mengu said the death toll is almost sure to rise, as rescue teams have not yet reached some of the smaller villages. Trucks carrying medical aid and food were seen driving into Van.

    Official rescue efforts were also under way in Ercis, said CNN Turk reporter Sevda Incesu, but residents were conducting efforts of their own. Ambulances were having trouble getting into town because the roads were littered with debris, she said.






    Video footage from the scene showed survivors freed from the rubble being loaded onto stretchers amid a crush of rescue workers and bystanders. Heavy equipment was used to sift through the wreckage, as residents gathered around small fires.

    The Red Crescent called for rescue workers, machinery and drinking water. A crisis center was set up by the country's Health Ministry in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
    Health Minister Recep Akdag said an air ambulance and several helicopters would go to the quake zone.

    Rescue teams of about 500 people were on the ground, according to the crisis center, and additional aid teams were dispatched from 29 surrounding cities. Medical helicopters were transporting the injured to hospitals in other provinces, the center said.

    Two tent hospitals were being set up in Ercis, and two cargo planes were dispatched from the capital carrying medical teams and aid.

    A seven-story building collapsed on Kazim Karabekir Street in the city of Van, and more buildings were reduced to rubble the village of Tabanli in Van province, the Anatolian news agency said. It was unknown how many people were trapped.

    Prime Minister Erdogan and Health Minister Akdag arrived in the area Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health's crisis center.

    Israel offered Turkey "any help it may require" after the earthquake, Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office said. Israel and Turkey, once close allies, saw a deterioration in relations in a dispute over an Israeli naval commando raid on the Gaza-bound ship Mavi Marmara, in which nine Turkish activists were killed.
    Other nations and organizations offered condolences and assistance to Turkey.

    "Our thoughts and prayers are with the brave men and women who are working to bring assistance to this stricken region," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement. "We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Turkish ally at this difficult time, and are ready to assist the Turkish authorities." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a similar statement.

    A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the country, while grateful for offers of aid, is prepared to handle the disaster on its own.

    Turkey is "no stranger to having these seismic events," but Sunday's quake is considered major, CNN Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf reported.

    A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Izmit, Turkey, killed more than 17,000 people in 1999, according to the USGS. A magnitude 7.2 tremor in Duzce the same year killed 894 people, the USGS reported.

    Sunday's major quake hit at 1:41 p.m. local time.

    It took place about 12 miles from Van, the USGS said.

    The USGS reported a depth of 4.5 miles, or 7.2 kilometers; the center in Turkey said the quake was about 3 miles, or 5 kilometers, deep.

    CNN's Guy Azriel, Talia Kayali and Hande Atay contributed to this report.

  2. #2

    Turkey Quake Kills 217, Collapses Buildings

    Monday, Oct. 24, 2011
    By AP / SELCAN HACAOGLU and SUZAN FRASER

    (ANKARA, Turkey) — Rescue teams on Monday sifted through rubble of flattened multistory buildings to try to reach dozens of people believed trapped beneath after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey. The Interior Minister said the death toll in the powerful quake has increased to 217.

    Hundreds of rescue teams worked throughout the night searching for survivors among dozens of pancaked buildings, as aid groups scrambled to set up tents, field hospitals and kitchens to assist thousands left homeless.(See video of the earthquake in Turkey.)

    Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said about 80 multistory buildings collapsed in the city of Ercis alone when the earthquake struck Sunday. He said some 40 buildings still had people trapped inside, giving rise to fears that the death toll could increase substantially. The minister did not give any estimates.

    "Rescue work is ongoing, especially at buildings where (rescuers) have determined survivors," Sahin said.

    The hardest-hit area was Ercis, an eastern city of 75,000 close to the Iranian border and on one of Turkey's most earthquake-prone zones. The bustling city of Van, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Ercis, also sustained substantial damage. Highways in the area caved in.

    Sahin said 117 were killed in Ercis, another 100 died in Van while some 740 people were injured.(See more on conflict in the quake-hit part of Turkey.)

    U.S. scientists recorded over 100 aftershocks in eastern Turkey within 10 hours of the quake, including one with a magnitude of 6.0.

    Authorities advised people to stay away from damaged homes, warning they could collapse in the aftershocks.

    Residents spent the night outdoors and lit campfires, while the Red Crescent began setting up tents in a stadium. Others sought shelter with relatives in nearby villages.

    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.

    Around 1,275 rescue teams from 38 provinces were being sent to the region, officials said, and troops were also assisting search-and-rescue efforts.

  3. #3

    Turkey Earthquake: Hundreds Dead as Rescue Workers Dig Out

    Selcan Hacaoglu - A woman, center, mourns for her parents who lost their lives in a powerful earthquake in the town of Ercis in Van province, Turkey, Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. The 7.2-magnitude quake which struckmore Sunday killed some 270 people in eastern Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)

    By KEVIN DOLAK and LEEZEL TANGLAO | ABC News

    Hundreds of rescue workers worked through the night attempting to dig out survivors after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey, leveling dozens of buildings and killing hundreds.

    Aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 6.0 were felt within 10 hours of when the quake hit Sunday afternoon. Turkey's interior minister Idris Naim Sahin said Monday that the death toll had risen to 270, but an estimated 1,000 people could have been killed based on the size of the quake, according to The Associated Press.

    Sahin said that 80 multi-story buildings collapsed in the town of Ercis, with people trapped in 40 of them.

    "Rescue work is ongoing, especially at buildings where [rescuers] have determined survivors," Sahin said.

    The temblor's epicenter was in the village of Tabanli, near the city of Van close to the Iranian border, the AP reported.

    Related: Major quakes of 2011

    With a population of 75,000, Ercis was the hardest hit by the quake; about 55 miles south, Van sustained major damage. Turkey is highly susceptible to earthquakes as it sits on major geological fault lines.

    The quake, which hit at 1:41 p.m. local time, was upgraded from a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 to 7.3 magnitude. The U.S. Geological Survey later revised the magnitude to 7.2.

    The depth of the epicenter was considered shallow -- 12.4 miles, shallower than the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010 -- and more potentially destructive, combined with the poor building codes in the region.

    According to the Hakki Erskoy with the Turkish Red Crescent, there were at least 120 aftershocks on Sunday. Erskoy said that the high number aftershocks isn't affecting the search and rescue efforts, as most of the families have moved from their homes and settled in tents.

    Residents spent the night outdoors and lit campfires, while others sought shelter with relatives in nearby villages.

    Most of these buildings in the affected part of Turkey are not built up to code. Turkey does have fairly stringent building codes but a lot of the buildings are just ignored or they are not enforced. It is estimated that only one-third of buildings in Turkey comply with codes.

    The city of Van's mayor Bekir Kaya told NTV television that the "telephone system is jammed due to panic and we can't assess the entire damage immediately."

    State-run media reported rescue crews were working to free people who were trapped under a seven-story building that collapsed.

    Residents of Van and neighboring towns poured into the streets as the strong aftershocks rocked the area Sunday.

    "There are many people under the rubble," district mayor Celebibag Veysel Keser told NTV. "People are in agony, we can hear their screams for help. We need urgent help."

    Some 1,275 rescue teams from 38 provinces were being sent to the region according to officials.

    The last major earthquake to hit the country was in 1999, when 18,000 people were killed, according the AP.

    President Obama said Sunday he has been following the reports on the quake.

    "Our thoughts and prayers are with the brave men and women who are working to bring assistance to this stricken region. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Turkish ally in this difficult time, and are ready to assist the Turkish authorities," Obama said in a statement.

    ABC News Radio and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
    Last edited by ABC; 24th October 2011 at 09:28 PM.

  4. #4

    Turkey earthquake: Digging out from quake, fears of more casualties

    The Turkey earthquake yesterday claimed at least 279 lives. But in one eastern Turkish city, there are worrying signs of greater devastation.


    A man sits on a brick near the debris of a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake in the town of Ercis in Van province, Turkey, Monday. The 7.2-magnitude earthquake which struck Sunday killed at least 279 people in eastern Turkey.
    (Selcan Hacaoglu/AP)


    By Alexander Christie-Miller, Correspondent
    posted October 24, 2011 at 6:58 pm EDT

    Ercis, Turkey -- “No one has even touched this yet,” says Adem Yavuz Avci pointing at a two-storey building that has collapsed across the road entering his hometown of Ercis. “It was a hotel, we don't know how many people could be in there.”

    This city of 75,000 people has borne the brunt of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that rocked eastern Turkey on Sunday afternoon.

    The official death toll so far stands at 279 people, with another 1,300 injured. But in Ercis, where 165 are confirmed dead, there is a widespread feeling that this figure only scratches the surface.

    Entering the city, dozens of buildings - apartment blocks, hotels, markets – lie in heaps of rubble. Some lean at frightening angles, and here and there walls have fallen away, laying bare the homes within.

    “It will take 30 years for our city to recover from this,” said Vedat Kanter, 35, a teacher left homeless after his apartment was severely damaged. “There must be 1,000 dead here alone, all we can do is pray to God.”

    For a country crisscrossed with active faultlines and prone to frequent earthquakes, Turkey has in the past shown itself to be woefully unprepared for handling the devastation they cause.

    But some say the country has come far since its last major earthquake, which killed 18,000 people when it struck the western city of Izmit in 1999.

    Learning from tough experience

    “I think that after the 1999 earthquake a cornerstone was set in terms of earthquake awareness in Turkey,” said Suleyman Nalbant, a geophysicist at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland who studies Turkey’s seismology.

    “Then the response was slow, communication was slow. It was a very important time and people didn’t know what to do.”

    But since then Turkey has improved its emergency readiness, passed tougher building codes and strengthened its public infrastructure, he said.

    “This time, all the government branches have reacted quite fast, charitable institutions have reacted as well.”

    On the approach to Ercis today, a steady flow of military transports, cranes, ambulances, and trucks full of supplies could be seen heading to the city.

    Turkey’s army has dispatched six battalions – which generally number between 500 and 1000 soldiers each, and a further 2,400 search and rescue personnel are in the disaster zone.

    The Turkish Red Crescent sent some 7,500 tents, more than 22,000 blankets, almost 4,000 heaters, and other emergency supplies. But despite this response, many collapsed buildings appeared to be untouched by the emergency effort.

    One young man said his 21-year-old cousin died after being trapped under concrete for more than 24 hours. Emergency services could not free him.

    “It was just one hour ago,” he said. “We could see him and we could give him medicine, but we couldn’t save him. The people trying to save him were not professional enough,” he said.

    Shoddy construction?

    According to current official estimates, around 970 buildings have collapsed across the quake zone.

    Despite the introduction of new building codes to address the country’s notoriously shoddy construction practices, some fear that enforcement has been insufficient.

    A study by three universities conducted last year in Istanbul found that 42,500 of 146,987 buildings in six districts of the city surveyed were at risk, with 77 percent of all structures in two of the districts facing potential damage.

    Seismologists predict the city is likely to face a major earthquake within the next 20 years, with one group of Japanese experts predicting that the death toll could rise as high as 40,000.

    Meanwhile, a report by a Turkish parliamentary commission last year said the government was failing to reinforce substandard buildings, punish building code violators, and control urban development.

    According to the University of Ulster's Nalbant, these problems may be acute in Turkey’s more impoverished eastern region, where the latest earthquake struck.

    “The focus is still mainly on the Marmara region [around Istanbul],” he said. “Eastern Turkey sometimes escapes mention, and we should not forget that it is just as vulnerable.”

    “Unfortunately the words of the law cannot be effective by themselves if the people enforcing them are not. Changing this mindset takes some time. Also, the building stock cannot be replaced in a short time.”

    It is a view that Mr. Kanter, the teacher, agrees with. He had been showing his brothers around his newly-bought home when the earthquake struck. “The buildings aren’t strong enough.

    “In Europe, they plan something first before they do it, here we do it first then think later.”

    Though his apartment building did not collapse, and he and his brothers escaped unharmed, he fears it is too badly damaged to ever be habitable again.

    IN PICTURES: Turkey's magnitude-7.2 earthquake

  5. #5

    Turkey earthquake: Death toll rises to 366

    25 October 2011 Last updated at 07:41 ET

    Rescuers have continued to pull some people alive from the rubble

    The death toll from an earthquake in eastern Turkey has risen to 366 people, officials said, as rescue teams raced to find survivors beneath the rubble.

    At least 1,300 others were injured in Sunday's disaster, officials said.

    Crews pulled out alive a two-week-old baby, as well as a pregnant woman and her two children, reviving hopes for those missing loved ones.

    Meanwhile, thousands of homeless people in the cities of Van and Ercis slept in tents or outside for a second night.

    At the scene

    Tim Willcox BBC News, Ercis

    We've been watching rescue teams at the wreckage of one building for the last seven or eight hours. Unfortunately, no survivors have been found here. There have been bodies, including a family of four - a mum in her mid-30s and three daughters including a baby aged about one year.

    A mound of masonry and rubble, radiators, sofas and beddings is believed to contain a further 40 or 50 people who remain unaccounted for.

    Hopes of finding any more people alive are running out. That said though, overnight, other people have been found alive in other areas of the town.

    People here are angry about the fact that some buildings in the town have been affected very badly by the quake while others don't appear to have been affected at all.
    Turkish officials pledged more aid to those in need, saying 12,000 more tents would be delivered to the region.

    Survivors and opposition politicians have criticised the government for failing to provide enough supplies.

    'Digging with shovels'

    Rescue teams with sniffer dogs continued through the night and into Tuesday to search for survivors under the rubble.

    Cranes and other heavy equipment have been lifting slabs of concrete, and many residents have been joining in the rescue effort, digging with shovels.

    In Ercis, one of the worst-hit cities, Derya Coskun, her daughter Elif and son Ozer were removed from the debris after being found by emergency workers.

    Also on Tuesday, teams found a 14-day baby still alive, almost 48 hours after the quake.

    A two-week-old baby girl is rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building

    Meanwhile, TV footage showed a couple, a police officer and his wife, being pulled out of a public building, AFP reports.

    But hopes are fading for many more who remain unaccounted for, and Turkish officials warn that the death toll is likely to rise.

    In one building, our correspondent says, there are fears that up to 50 are missing - buried under the rubble.

    'Shivering'

    Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay, in charge of the relief operation, said late on Monday that "from today there will be nothing our people lack".

    His announcement came after some survivors complained that not enough help was reaching them.

    Continue reading the main story Earthquake areaOne of Turkey's most earthquake-prone zonesKurdish-populated Ercis, an eastern city of 75,000 close to the Iranian border, was the worst-hit Van, large ancient city of one million on a lake ringed by mountains, less affectedIn pictures: Quake aftermath
    "We shivered all night long, nobody provided us any blankets or heaters, we don't even have a toilet," one woman, who is staying in a tent, told the BBC.

    In Ercis, a lorry loaded with supplies was mobbed by young men who climbed the sides to claim tents and blankets, leaving the older and less able shouting in anger.

    Opposition politicians earlier decried what they called "a lack of crisis management" and said Ankara was wrong to refuse offers of foreign aid.

    Turkey is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it sits on major geological fault lines.

  6. #6

    Turkey rescuers look for survivors at 4 buildings

    ERCIS, Turkey (AP) — Turkish rescue teams are still looking for survivors at four collapsed buildings six days after a powerful earthquake.

    Authorities on Saturday said the death toll in the 7.2-magnitude earthquake is now 582. They said 455 of them died in the hardest-hit city of Ercis in eastern Turkey.

    Searchers on Saturday pulled the body of a 27-year-old teacher from a crumbled building and continued drilling through the wreckage in search of two other missing people.

    A mother was waiting outside wailing for her son, another teacher, believed to be trapped inside, as hopes of finding more survivors were dimming.

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