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At least people have been killed and more than 1, injured in a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey.
The magnitude-6.8 quake, centered on the town of Sivrice in Elazig province, caused buildings to collapse and sent residents rushing into the street.
Thirty-nine people have been pulled from the wreckage, with more than feared to remain trapped, rescuers say.
Earthquakes are common in Turkey – about , 13 people died in a quake in the western city of Izmit in .
Friday’s quake struck at about : (local time) (GMT).
Tremors were also felt in neighborhooding Syria, Lebanon and Iran.
More than
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (Afad) said more than 550 Rescue teams were heading towards the region, along with beds and tents for those displaced. It warned people not to return to damaged buildings in case of aftershocks.
Afad said that People had died in Elazig province, while the official count in Malatya is four. The governor or Malatya, however, earlier said that six people had died there.
TV pictures showed emergency services frantically searching for survivors.
One woman was pulled from under the rubble about hours after the quake, officials say. She was saved after calling her relatives from her mobile phone and telling them where she was trapped.
But a 17 – year-old boy rescued from the wreckage later died in hospital.
“It was very scary – furniture fell on top of us. We rushed outside, “AFP news agency quoted 55 -year-old Melahat Can, who lives in the city of Elazig, as saying.
The region struck by the quake, some (km) miles) east of the capital Ankara, is remote and sparsely populated, so details of damage and fatalities could be slow to emerge.
Officials have sent beds, tents and blankets to the area, where overnight temperatures regularly fall below zero. In its advisory on Saturday morning, the emergency authority said the temperature had fallen to -8C.
The Turkish Red Crescent has also dispatched hundreds of personnel with emergency supplies, it said .
Sivrice, a town of about 4, 06 people, is a popular tourist spot on the shore of Hazar lake, the source of the river Tigris.
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