Earthquake hits Turkey, up to 1,000 possibly killed

By Jonathon Burch

VAN, Turkey | Sun Oct 23, 2011 10:23am EDT

(Reuters) - A powerful earthquake which shook southeast Turkey on Sunday may have killed up to a 1,000 people as it triggered the collapse of dozens of buildings across the region, media reported the Kandilli Observatory as saying.

Emergency workers battled to rescue people trapped in buildings in the city of Van and surrounding districts on the banks of Lake Van, near Turkey's border with Iran.

Some 10 buildings collapsed in Van city and about 25-30 buildings were brought to the ground in the nearby district of Ercis, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told reporters.

"We estimate around 1,000 buildings are damaged and our estimate is for hundreds of lives lost. It could be 500 or 1,000," Kandilli Observatory general manager Mustafa Erdik told a news conference. Read the rest on Reuters

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