Published: 1 May 2003
An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale shook the south-eastern Turkish province of Bingol earlier today at 03.27 local time. According to the local authorities the death toll in Bingol town is around 150 but there are fears that this figure could rise as assessments of the damage both in Bingol and outlying villages are compiled. There are 300 to 400 people injured.
Search and rescue teams are working frantically to reach a reported 143 students trapped under the rubble of the Celtiksuyu Primary Boarding School. Fifty students have been rescued from the collapsed building.
The Turkish Red Crescent headquarters and provincial branches have despatched medical teams, 2,100 tents, 8,000 blankets, four tonnes of food, seven mobile kitchens, a mobile clinic, four ambulances and a communications vehicle to the quake zone. There are plans to send another 4,500 tents that can accommodate 25,000 people.
This aid includes relief that was pre-positioned in Silopi in anticipation of an influx of refugees from Iraq.
“The biggest challenge facing us is helping the people who are afraid to go back into their houses because of the aftershocks by providing them with temporary shelter, food and anything else they might need,” Oktay Ergunay, director of the Turkish Red Crescent’s disaster operations center, said.
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