Turkey''s Quake Death Toll Rises to 217

The death toll from the massive earthquake which rocked eastern Turkey yesterday has risen to 217, with 1090 people injured, the Turkish Interior Minister said Monday. The previous official toll was 138.
A hundred people died in Van province and 117 in the Ercis district, Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said, adding that 1090 were injured. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Van, a large eastern city populated mainly by Kurds, on Sunday afternoon local time. 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. 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. Erdogan thanked al the governments who had offered help, but said Turkey could handle the disaster relief efforts without assistance. Israel offered Turkey "any help it may require" after the earthquake, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak''s office said. Israel and Turkey, 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.
Source: BNA