Turkey quake toll hits 272
Rescuers scrambled through the rubble on Monday in a desperate search
for survivors of an earthquake that killed at least 272 people in Turkey
as residents fled the scenes of devastation.
People living in eastern Van province issued cries for help on
Twitter, giving out the addresses of collapsed buildings and the number
of people trapped under the debris. Hundreds of rescuers worked around
the clock in the town of Ercis, which bore the brunt of the quake and
the surrounding villages, as scores of ambulances and medical supplies
were rushed to the area.
Some 272 people were confirmed killed by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake
which struck around lunchtime on Sunday in the Van province, according
to Interior Minister Idris Naim Sener. An earlier estimate put the toll
at 264.
“We couldn’t understand what was going on all of a sudden there was
dust everywhere, our eyes were full of dust.
“We were then thrown against the walls and furniture. It lasted 20
seconds,” Ercis resident Yunus Ozmen said.
“We spent the night outside in the street and made a fire to keep
warm,” said the 23-year-old as he recounted the moment when disaster
struck, forcing many out of doors to spend the night in freezing
temperatures. His neighbour Abdul Hadi Isik said that his aunt and her
children were buried under the rubble. A 16-year-old girl Hilal was
pulled smiling from the wreckage of her house and two children were
plucked alive from a collapsed building in Ercis, but it was an
otherwise grim day for rescuers combing through the rubble. Some 169
people were killed in Ercis, while 95 died in Van city centre, the
Anatolia news agency quoted Sener as saying. A total of 970 buildings
had collapsed as a result of the quake and aftershocks, including a
dormitory in Ercis under which many students were believed to be buried.
Around 1,200 rescue officials were working in the town of Ercis,
according to the local crisis center. The town’s football pitch had been
transformed into a sea of tents set up by the Red Crescent, a field
hospital was ereceted in its stadium and some 1,500 units of blood have
been sent to the region.
Some 2,400 search and rescue teams from 45 cities and more than 200
ambulances have been rushed to the region, according to the government.
AFP |
