The Hindu : Quake victims, police clash over aid

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 03, 2003

International

International

Quake victims, police clash over aid

BINGOL (Turkey) MAY 2. Violent clashes erupted between police and local Kurds over aid shortage on Friday as rescue workers kept searching for about 40 children trapped in a dormitory flattened by a strong earthquake that killed 105 in eastern Turkey.

Policemen fired into the air with automatic rifles after hundreds of protesters demanding more tents, food and water destroyed police cars and anti-personnel vehicles. Some protesters ripped large stones from the paved streets and threw them at security forces and at the Governor's building.

Two paramilitary police personnel and three reporters were injured from flying stones, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The clashes erupted after the crowds demanded the Governor's resignation and attempted to enter the Governor's building, officials said. Several protesters were injured by a speeding police van that drove through the crowd. Police fired into the air for several minutes.

There is deep distrust between Kurds and security forces in Turkey's east after a 15-year Kurdish rebel war and ensuing Government crackdown left 37,000 dead and millions displaced.

The Turkish Red Crescent has sent 3,700 tents and 13,000 blankets to the region, but Mr. Cos said he had only handed out 1,200 so far because he wanted the distribution to be fair. He said 20,000 more tents were needed. Food and drinking water are also insufficient, officials said.

In the nearby village of Celtiksuyu, rescuers continued to dig through the rubble of a boarding school dormitory that collapsed with 198 students inside.

One boy, Enef Gunce, was rescued on Friday morning after spending more than 30 hours under the debris. Weary rescuers applauded as Gunce, apparently with only slight injuries, was carried out of the rubble on a stretcher and quickly put in ambulance.

By midday on Friday, 117 children were rescued. But hopes of finding more survivors were beginning to fade as the bodies of 44 children were found. Thirty-seven were still unaccounted for.

``I have been sitting here since yesterday morning,'' said Gazal Gunalan, whose 15-year-old son was buried under the rubble. ``At the beginning I was expecting him to come out alive ... now I'm waiting for his body.''

Hundreds of aftershocks have hit the region since the initial 17-second temblor, and thousands of people were in the streets, afraid to re-enter their homes.

The quake's epicentre was just outside Bingol. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International