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Earthquake kills 51 in eastern Turkey

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey early on Monday, killing 51 people and injuring dozens more.  The tremor hit at 04:32 am (02.32 GMT) at a depth of five kilometres, with an epicentre near the Karakocan town in Elazig province.

Photo: Reuters
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"People were jumping out of upstairs windows and breaking their legs and ankles on the fall to the ground," correspondent Jasper Mortimer told RFI.

At least eight of the dead came from Okcular, one of the largest villages in the region, where some 25 to 30 of the village's mud-brick houses were demolished by the tremor. In total 71 people were injured, according to officials in Elazig, with 34 people receiving treatment in hospital.

The disaster management centre announced that it had sent rescuers, blankets and tents to the quake region.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek has left Ankara for the disaster zone accompanied by Health Minister Recep Akdag, Housing Minister Mustafa Demir and State Minister Cevdet Yilmaz, the Anatolia news agency said.

Deadly earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which is located on several active faultlines.

"There are two faultlines running through eastern Turkey, and even though this is an earthquake prone region the people there are low-income people, and they don’t have the resources to build earthquake-proof buildings," said Mortimer.

Monday's earthquake follows recent powerful quakes in Taiwan, Chile and Haiti.

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