7.2 earthquake hits Turkey, more than a thousand feared dead

A man carries an injured girl after an earthquake in Tabanli village. REUTERS/Abdurrahman Antakyali/Anadolu Agency.

Turkey's Kandilli Observatory estimates that 1,000 or more people were killed today in a powerful earthquake in southeast Turkey's Van province.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told reporters some 10 buildings had collapsed in Van city and around 25-30 buildings collapsed in the nearby district of Ercis.

The USGS estimates the quake magnitude at 7.2, with a depth of 20 km (12.4 miles), 17 km (10 miles) NNE (32°) from the city of Van.

More immediate coverage: Reuters, AP, CNN.

Turkey's Hürriyet daily newspaper has coverage. For those interested in viewing local broadcasts, TRT-TV is the transmission to try and find via satellite or online re-streaming services.

More photos below.

Rescue workers try to save people trapped under debris after an earthquake in Tabanli village. REUTERS.

Rescue workers try to save survivors trapped under rubble. REUTERS/Ali Ihsan Ozturk

Survivors react following an earthquake in Tabanli village. REUTERS.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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http://twitter.com/Caspianroach Caspian Roach

Poor turkey.
lakhnachfi nabil

:(
blueelm

How horrible. Those poor people.
Mustafa Jakubović

this is so wrong…..its a sad day and sorrow
Mustafa Jakubović

this is a sorrow day for Turkey and Balkan and hole world :((
http://twitter.com/foelde Shawn Wilson

dayam hope everyones okay
Guest

The only upside is the potential for neighbors to rely on each other.
Wanda Kelley

I thank God my friends the Akcans are safe we just meet up on G+ for the first time in 23 years i have been looking for them for 17 years ,was so afraid that they were affected from this .
gwailo_joe

Good luck Turkish folks: may many more survivors be rescued…

Unreinforced masonry: it makes perfect sense…until it totally fails.

Fight! And take care of one another…
penguinchris

Speaking as a geologist with a research interest in plate tectonics, I will say that Turkey is one of the most fascinating and active parts of the world, tectonically-speaking. There are two major fault systems at play, of the two most interesting types (converging due to subduction, and strike-slip) – and both are doing very interesting things compared to other parts of the world that are similar.

This occurred in the part of the country that’s converging with Africa. Convergence zones tend to produce most of the really big, devastating earthquakes (including the major tsunami-causing ones, the 2008 one in China, the 2010 Haiti one, the Northridge CA one, and many more). Yet people tend to be most familiar with strike-slip activity, since that’s what’s happening here in California. I think this might be a good opportunity for Maggie to write something about convergence zones! I know there was some discussion after the earthquake in Japan, but that conversation was hugely overshadowed by the tsunami and Fukushima.
rabidpotatochip

Is it just me, or does 2011 seem to be a really bad year for a lot more people than usual?

As with anyone affected by natural disaster, I wish you all the best and hope you come through okay.
- Arthur T Williams IV
  
  Did you know that the Bible says we’d have a lot more earthquakes in the ‘end times’?
  
  It did/does. I’m not trying to preach but I still think it’s an interesting statement of fact.
  
  A guy I know, Frank Dimora, has an interesting website called http://www.bibleprophecyman.com . He
  tracks earthquakes too. You might find some of the content interesting. I do.
  
  Regards,
  Art
SomeGuyNamedMark

I have an appreciation for the Turkish people from my brief time there so I my heart goes out to them.

“Unreinforced masonry: it makes perfect sense…until it totally fails.”
Sadly that is all many people in that part of the country can afford. The alternative is what, a tin shack? The real problem in Turkey has been fraudulent and substandard construction. This came to the forefront after the 1999 earthquakes.