Earthquake aftermath
October 25, 2011
Rescue efforts continued in eastern Turkey on Tuesday, two days after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake left at least 432 people dead.
Emergency organizations warned that thousands of people could still be trapped beneath the rubble as the search for survivors went on.
"Hundreds, possibly thousands of people are still trapped under the rubble," said a spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
The rescue of a two-week old baby on Tuesday provided a moment of happiness as the death toll continued to rise.
The infant, Azra Karaduman, was found in her mother's arms beneath debris in the worst-hit town of Ercis. The baby's mother and grandmother were also rescued a short time later.
In a separate rescue later Tuesday, 10-year-old Serhat Gur was pulled from the rubble of a building where he had been trapped for 54 hours.
The Disaster and Emergency Administration has put the number of injured at 1,301, while the IFRC believes the quake destroyed at least 2,256 buildings, mostly apartment blocks. Search-and-rescue teams from 45 cities and more than 200 ambulances have been deployed across the disaster-struck area, according to government sources.
The Turkish government initially refused offers of international aid to deal with the disaster, but foreign ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, on Tuesday said that they had requested outside help - especially for the provision of temporary housing and accomodation. The Israeli government, whose relations with Turkey have been strained of late, also announced that they were looking into the logistics of providing such assistance after receiving a request at their embassy in Ankara.
Rescue efforts criticized
The Turkish Red Crescent sent some 7,500 tents and 22,000 blankets to the region, in addition to heaters and body bags. Mobile kitchens and a mobile bakery were sent to the provincial capital Van, which was also hit by the quake.
Despite this aid, victims have accused the central government of being slow to send help to the region, the population of which is mainly Kurdish.
Sunday's quake is the most powerful in the region in more than a decade.
Turkey lies in one of the most active seismic zones in the world, and is crossed by numerous fault lines. In 1999, two earthquakes in the region killed some 18,000 people.
Author: Richard Connor (AP, AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Martin Kuebler