The Hindu : Turkey quake: 84 dead, relief operations on

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Friday, May 02, 2003

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International

Turkey quake: 84 dead, relief operations on

CELTIKSUYU (Turkey) may 1. A strong earthquake shook south-eastern Turkey on Thursday, killing at least 84 people and injuring 390 others. Rescuers dug frantically in the rubble of a school dormitory, hunting for more than 100 children believed trapped.

Several dozen children had already been saved from the debris of the boys' school. Hundreds of terrified parents prayed and screamed, waiting for news of their children.

The Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said at least 84 people were killed, while the Housing Minister, Zeki Ergezen, said the toll could be 150 throughout the region.

School collapses

Crews were working to rescue more than 100 primary and middle school students still buried under the four-story dormitory that collapsed in the village of Celtiksuyu. By midday Thursday, 72 children were rescued, said a rescue worker. He said the voices of children screaming could be heard from the debris.

``We hope another 50 students will be saved,'' he said, adding that many were feared dead. The headmaster said 198 students — aged 7 to 16 — were sleeping in the dormitory when the quake hit.

Five students and one teacher were found dead, said the Bingol Mayor, Feyzullah Karaaslan. ``My friends are waiting for help in there. They were calling for help as they were pulling me out,'' 12-year-old Veysel Dagdelen was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency after he was rescued from the debris.

The magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck around 3:27 a.m. (0027 GMT) on Thursday and was centred just outside the city of Bingol, 700 km east of Ankara, the Kandilli seismology center in Istanbul said.

Bridge destroyed

At least 25 buildings and a bridge collapsed in the centre of Bingol, a city of 250,000 inhabitants, the Mayor said. Damage could be seen throughout the city, where the streets were filled with terrified residents. Bingol is a largely rural poor area in the predominantly Kurdish southeast that suffered for years from the fierce fighting between the Turkish army and Kurdish autonomy-seeking rebels.

The earthquake damaged power and telephone lines in the area. More than 100 aftershocks hit the region, and rescue workers were unable to reach many villages.

At the remnants of the school dorm, soldiers, rescuers and locals worked their way through the debris with cranes and jackhammers to try to save surviving students. Many students were being treated for their injuries on mattresses laid out near the flattened building.

Naim Gencgul, a 15-year-old boy, was pulled out of the rubble with a broken arm. ``The whole building was on top of me. We all started screaming,'' he said.

Relatives rushed toward soldiers every time a rescued boy was carried out on a stretcher to check if their children had been saved. Most of the children are sons of poor farmers from nearby villages that do not have schools and are difficult of access.

Parents questioned the quality of the school's construction. ``The stable I built did not collapse, but the school did,'' said Abdullah Gunala, the father of a rescued student.

Mr. Erdogan visited the quake area, and said proper inspections had not been carried out and that shoddy material had been used to build the school. ``Investigations will be launched and the guilty will be prosecuted,'' he said.

Thousands of poorly built buildings collapsed when two massive earthquakes struck western Turkey in 1999, killing some 18,000 people. Nazim Karabulut, a resident of Bingol, described the school as a ``terrible construction. Nobody ever learned their lessons,'' he said.

Appeal for help

Doctors at Bingol's state hospital appealed for help to deal with the crisis. The hospital was seriously damaged in the quake and scores of injured were being treated outside. ``We need every kind of help,'' said Ilhan Cokabay, chief doctor at the hospital. ``Medical supplies, people, whatever.''

The Mayor said the city also needed more large tents.

The Red Crescent sent 3,100 tents, 13,000 blankets, as well as mobile kitchens, generators, ambulances, and four tons of food supplies, Anatolia reported. Soldiers, emergency workers and mountaineers with rescue experience were also headed to the area. The temblor was felt in the nearby provinces of Erzincan, Tunceli, Bingol, Erzurum, Kayseri and Sivas.

The quake lasted 17 seconds, said Gulay Barbarasoglu of the Istanbul observatory. Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which lies on the North Anatolian fault. A 1971 quake in Bingol killed 900 people. — AP

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