Quake victims trapped Turkey

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked a sparsely populated part of eastern Turkey yesterday, killing at least 21 people, injuring more than 1000 and leaving about 30 trapped in the wreckage of toppled buildings, officials said.

Rescue teams from neighbouring provinces were dispatched to the affected areas, working in the dark with floodlights in the freezing cold. Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said troops were on standby to help.

Hundreds of residents were left homeless or with damaged homes.

TV footage showed rescuers pulling an injured person from the rubble of a collapsed building in the district of Gezin, in the eastern Elazig province. About 30 were believed to be trapped inside collapsed structures in the province, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, who travelled to the afflicted area with Soylu, said 13 people were killed in Elazig, including two who suffered heart attacks, while five others died in neighbouring Malatya province.

The injured included 11 who were in a serious condition in hospital. About 30 buildings had collapsed, said Environment Minister Murat Kurum.

Elazig is about 750 kilometres east of the capital, Ankara. A magnitude 6 quake killed 51 people there in 2010.

Neighbouring Greece, which is at odds with Turkey over maritime boundaries and gas exploitation rights, offered to send rescue crews should they be needed.

The quake struck just before 9pm local time, at a depth of 6.7 kilometres, near the town of Sivrice in Elazig, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said.

It was followed by several aftershocks, the strongest with magnitudes 5.4 and 5.1.

People in Elazig whose homes were damaged or were too afraid to go indoors were being moved to student dormitories or a sports centre amid freezing conditions.