Strong earthquake leaves nearly 100 dead in southeastern Turkey

Death toll expected to rise; many students trapped in collapsed school

People walk past a building damaged as a result of the earthquake in Bingol, Turkey, yesterday. A 6.4-magnatude earthquake killed about 100 people in southeastern Turkey early yesterday morning and toppled a school dormitory, trapping over 100 students under debris.

By James C. Helicke - The Associated Press

CELTIKSUYU - A strong earthquake shook southeastern Turkey yesterday, killing nearly 100 people and injuring 1,000 others. Rescuers dug frantically through the rubble of a school dormitory, hunting for dozens of children believed trapped.

More than 70 children had already been saved from the debris of the school but terrified parents prayed and screamed, waiting for news.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said nearly 100 people were killed, while Housing Minister Zeki Ergezen said the death toll could total as much as 150 throughout the region. City official Sevket Turan in Bingol, where the quake was centered, said 90 people were dead and close to 1,000 injured.

Crews were working to rescue up to 100 primary and middle school students still buried under the four-story dormitory that collapsed in the village of Celtiksuyu. By midday, 72 children had been rescued, said rescue worker Muhsin Balgi. Balgi said the voices of children screaming could be heard from the debris. “We hope another 50 students will be saved,” Balgi said, adding that many were feared dead.

Some 198 students — aged 7 to 16 — were sleeping in the dormitory when the quake hit before dawn. Most of the students were the sons of poor Kurdish farmers from surrounding villages that don’t have schools and are difficult to access, leading many to board at the school.

Five students and one teacher were found dead, Bingol Mayor Feyzullah Karaaslan said.

The 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 3.27 a.m. local time yesterday and was centered just outside the city of Bingol, 700 kilometers (430 miles) east of Ankara, the Kandilli seismology center in Istanbul said.

At least 25 buildings and a bridge collapsed in the center 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 rural, poor area in the predominantly Kurdish southeast that suffered for years from fierce fighting between the Turkish army and Kurdish autonomy-seeking rebels.

More than 100 aftershocks hit the region.

At the remnants of the school dorm, soldiers, rescuers and locals worked their way through the huge concrete slabs and tangled steel 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.

Relatives rushed toward soldiers every time a rescued boy was carried out on a stretcher to check if their child had been saved. Women, some barely speaking Turkish, wailed and prayed for their children.

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.

Bingol’s state 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.

The temblor was felt in the nearby provinces of Erzincan, Tunceli, Erzurum, Kayseri and Sivas. A 1971 quake in Bingol killed 900 people.