Rescue workers and locals worked desperately to find and free survivors of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake near the Turkish-Iranian border that toppled buildings and killed between 500 and 1,000 people on Sunday. Officials in Turkey’s Van province and elsewhere sounded an urgent call for aid and medics as the scope of the disaster unfolded.

Devastating earthquakes are common in Turkey. Roughly 18,000 people — many living in buildings not made to withstand such disasters — were killed in two major quakes that struck the country in 1999. –Alexander Reed Kelly

The Guardian:

Up to 1,000 people are feared dead in a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey, according to initial estimates.

Turkey’s Kandilli Observatory said the death toll could be between 500 and 1,000. At least 35 buildings are reported to have collapsed.

The earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2, struck in the Van province near the Iranian border on Sunday. The epicentre was below the village of Tabanli, near the city of Van.

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