7 Dead after Quake Strikes Area near Iran-Turkey Borderline
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Seven people died and others were stuck under collapsed buildings in southeastern Turkey on Sunday after a magnitude-5.7 earthquake struck near the border with Iran, the Turkish interior minister said as rescue teams arrived in villages.
Three of those killed in the shallow tremor were children and five people were reported injured, according to Minister Suleyman Soylu. He added that some 1,066 buildings collapsed, Reuters reported.
Turkish TV footage showed people digging through rubble with shovels as well as crumbled exterior walls of homes, cracks in roads and residents outside in the snow.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the quake had a depth of 5 km (3.1 miles).
Turkish public broadcaster TRT World said the quake-affected about 43 villages in Turkey, which has a history of powerful earthquakes. There were also reports of building collapses in the Turkish city of Van.
The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority had begun rescue work, Soylu said.
Crisscrossed by major fault lines, Iran and Turkey are among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
An earthquake last month in eastern Turkey killed more than 40 people while another in Iran did structural damage to homes without causing any fatalities.
