Turkey rocked by earthquake

[Kat Scorp]

USGS has the magnitude as 7.3, with a depth of 7.2km and distance 19km from Van.



Turkey hit by 6.6 magnitude earthquake | News.com.au

AN earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has struck eastern Turkey, the country's Kandilli observatory says.

There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The Istanbul-based Kandilli seismology centre said the quake occurred at 1.41pm local time on Sunday (2141 AEDT). Its epicentre was in the village of Tabanli in eastern Van province, bordering Iran.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which is crossed by faultlines.

In 1999, about 18,000 people were killed two powerful earthquakes that struck northwestern Turkey.

news.com.au

Still waiting for the magnitude to be verified.

[MohandasKGanja]

U.S. Geological survey said 7.3. I wonder why the readings are so different.

[Kat Scorp]

news dot com is a Murdoch news source; sadly the other websites I use all copy and paste from each other so for now, they all have the wrong magnitude.

There have been two large aftershocks: 4.9 and a 5.6

...... and another 5.6 mag.



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-2...turkey/3596350


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-2...-quake/3596360
Photo credit: Aburrahman Antakyali


A magnitude 6.6 earthquake has struck near Van in south-east Turkey, with state-run media reporting some buildings had collapsed and 50 people had been injured.

Turkey's Kandilli Observatory and Research Institute said the earthquake struck was five kilometres deep.

The US Geological Survey earlier reported that the magnitude was 7.6.

Some buildings collapsed and emergency teams were trying to rescue people believed to be trapped in a building in Van, near the Iranian border, state-run news agency Anatolian said.

It said 50 injured people had been taken to hospital in Van, but did not give details on how serious their injuries were.

Television pictures showed damaged buildings and vehicles, crushed under falling masonry, and panicked residents wandering in the streets.

Turkish media said phone lines and electricity had been cut off.

Prime minister Tayyip Erdogan will head to Van to see the damage, media reported.

Aftershocks continued after the initial quake, whose epicentre was at the village of Tabanli, north of Van city, the agency said.

In Hakkari, a town around 100 kilometres south of the city of Van in south-east Turkey, a building could be felt swaying for around 10 seconds during the quake.

There was no immediate sign of any casualties or damage in Hakkari, around two and half hours drive through the mountains from Van, around 20 kilometres from the epicentre.

Major geological faultlines cross Turkey and small earthquakes are a near daily occurrence.

Two large quakes in 1999 killed more than 20,000 people in northwest Turkey.

Two people were killed and 79 injured in May when an earthquake shook Simav in north-west Turkey.

Reuters

Source abc.net.au/news

[McJag]

That doesn't look good at all. Bound to have had fatalities.

[greysfang]

That's awful. It would be a miracle if there were no deaths.

[Kat Scorp]

Hundreds believed dead in Turkey quake

An earthquake of 7.3 magnitude has rocked eastern Turkey, with a seismological institute estimating up to 1,000 people could lie dead under the rubble of dozens of collapsed buildings.

The powerful quake, the strongest to hit the country in years, and its aftershocks struck Van, a large eastern city populated mainly by Kurds.

"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.

Earlier reports did not speak of casualties but many were feared trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings and officials warned they were struggling to assess the extent of the damage.

At least 50 people were taken to hospital in Van, Anatolia news agency said.

"There is serious human and material loss," said a brief statement from the the national disaster body which is based in the prime minister's office.

"Many multi-floor buildings, hotels and a dormitory were collapsed," said Veysel Keser, a local official from Van.

"We can hear voices from the collapsed buildings."

Television footage showed collapsed buildings and vehicles, with residents rushing in panic in the streets.

"People are panicked. The telecommunication services have collapsed. We cannot reach anybody," Van mayor Bekir Kaya told the NTV television in an initial assessment.

People are panicked. The telecommunication services have collapsed. We cannot reach anybody.

Van mayor Bekir Kaya

The government is due to send satellite phones to the region, according to media reports, while the army will also send search and rescue teams.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 7.3 magnitude and said that an aftershock of 5.6 magnitude had also been registered.

The epicentre of the aftershock was located 19 kilometres north-east of Van, the institute added.

The depth of the initial quake was 7.2 kilometres, according to the US seismologists, with the depth of the aftershock 20 kilometres.

The epicentre of the quake was at Tabanli in Van province, the Kandilli institute said.

The Turkish institute said that there were two aftershocks which in particular impacted on Ilikaynak and Gedikbulak villages.

Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled his official program and was due to visit the quake region on Sunday, said NTV.

Van, a city of 380,000 inhabitants mostly Kurds, is located more than 1,200 kilometres from the capital Ankara.

The quake was also felt over the border in north-west Iran, causing some panic in major cities, Iranian media reported, but without any mention of casualties or damage.

The tremors were strong enough to cause "scenes of panic among the population of the cities," according to several Iranian media outlets.

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 north-west Turkey left some 20,000 dead.

And a powerful earthquake in the town of Caldiran in Van province killed 3,840 people in 1976.

abc.net.au/news