Update
Posted by JAC on 3/8/2010, 6:59 am


Rescue teams and villagers search for bodies among the ruins in the village of Okcular in Elazig province.



Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- A pre-dawn earthquake collapsed homes and killed at least 57 people in a mountainous region of southeastern Turkey on Monday, government officials said.

About 71 others were injured when the magnitude-5.8 earthquake struck at 4:32 a.m., according to officials.

The quake struck in Elazig province, with the village of Okcular the worst hit, according to Ozcan Yalcin, the press secretary for the province's governor.

At least 57 people died, said Cemil Cicek , Turkey's deputy prime minister.

Dozens of aftershocks, ranging up to magnitude 5.5, shook the region in the hours after the quake.

"According to the information that we got from the technical teams on the ground, there shouldn't be anyone left in the rubble by now. But the search and rescue operations are continuing," said the deputy governor of Elazig, Mehmet Ali Saglam.

"Most of the houses that were demolished in the villages are not cement houses. ... Other buildings, such as schools, were not destroyed," the deputy governor said.

"The Red Crescent is there. They are giving all kinds of help to the people. They are setting up tents. The weather is cloudy, 8 to 10 degrees Celsius (46 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit)."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on television said: "Teams from the state mass housing project have also been sent to the area to study how to rebuild the area in different methods."

Monday's quake occurred near the meeting point of two major fault lines, geologists said.

"One is the Northern Anatolian Fault. ... The other one is the East Anatolian Fault," said Okan Tuysuz, a professor of geology at Istanbul Technical University.

Turkey is periodically pummeled by deadly earthquakes. In 1999, two powerful earthquakes hit heavily populated areas near Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, killing at least 20,000 people.

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5.9Mw Quake Eastern Turkey - Damage & Deaths Reported - JAC, 3/8/2010, 6:55 am
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