LA TIMES - Turkey earthquake death toll could soar, Oct 24, 2011

A survivor is carried to an ambulance in Tabanli village, Turkey, after a 7.2 earthquake killed at least 138 people. (Reuters / October 23, 2011)

• 
• 
• 

• Share51
• Comments

  0

• ALSO
• Photos: Powerful earthquake strikes Turkey
• 
• 2010 Mexicali quake still shakes California
• Japan will face extraordinary health challenges after tsunami
• U.S., Mexico to install quake sensors in two border city areas

Times staff and wire reports, Los Angeles Times

October 24, 2011, 2:22 a.m.

Reporting from Ankara, Turkey— 

As rescuers in easternTurkey combed through rubble in search of earthquakesurvivors early Monday, officials said the number of deaths from the 7.2 temblor had reached 239 and could go much higher.

Many buildings were destroyed or damaged. Emergency workers and residents pressed to find hundreds of people believed to be buried under debris in the cities of Van and Ercis, where a student dormitory collapsed.

In Van, some residents using their hands and shovels worked frantically under floodlights or only flashlights after reportedly hearing the voices of people calling from under mounds of broken concrete in pitch darkness and cold.

PHOTOS: Powerful quake strikes Turkey

Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said at least 100 people were killed in Van and 117 others died in Ercis, an eastern city close to the Iranian border.

"The most important problem now is in the villages close to Van city center because the buildings are made of adobe," said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who reportedly traveled to the disaster area by helicopter. "They are more vulnerable to quakes. I must say that almost all buildings in such villages are destroyed."

The quake struck at 1:41 p.m. Sunday and was centered in the village of Tabanli in Van province, said Turkey's Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute.

U.S. scientists recorded more than 100 aftershocks in eastern Turkey within 10 hours of the quake, including one with a magnitude of 6.

The earthquake also shook buildings in neighboring Armenia and Iran, but no injuries were reported.

In Turkey, thousands of people reportedly fled into the streets running, screaming or trying to reach relatives on cellphones as apartment and office buildings cracked or collapsed.

Erdogan urged people to stay away from damaged buildings and promised assistance to all survivors.

"We won't leave anyone to fend for themselves in the cold of winter," he said.

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

Many buildings also collapsed in the district of Celebibag, near Ercis.