home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- WORLD, Page 43World NotesTURKEYEarthquake In Erzincan
-
-
- For residents of the Turkish city of Erzincan (pop. 150,000),
- death visited with savage abruptness at 7:20 p.m. last Friday.
- An earthquake that registered at least 6.2 on the Richter scale
- leveled 200 buildings, leaving more than 500 people dead -- the
- toll could climb well past 1,000 -- and at least 2,000 injured.
- "All of a sudden I saw the wall coming down and the city
- swinging like a cradle," said Ahmet Elden, whose wife and four
- children were trapped in their wrecked apartment. "I can still
- hear the cries of my son calling for me."
-
- The temblor that convulsed eastern Turkey was the
- country's most powerful since a 1983 quake that snuffed out
- 1,330 lives. In less than a minute, it leveled a quarter of
- Erzincan's center and reverberated across two neighboring
- provinces. By morning, rescue officials had dispatched tents,
- blankets and heavy equipment to aid the frightened survivors.
- Many had spent the night outdoors in subzero cold rather than
- wager against the earth's caprice.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-