Americans Help Parish Hit by Quake

Some 80 Americans, including military personnel, cleared rubble from inside a Roman Catholic church damaged in last month’s earthquake in southern Turkey.

“It was an effort of faith,” said Father Felice Suriano, parish priest of St. Paul’s Church in Adana.

Several cracks opened in the walls, and concrete blocks fell from the ceiling, said Suriano, an Italian who has lived in Turkey for 34 years.

Many of the Americans were from the Incirlik base, used by U.S. and British jets to patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

“All the church pews were brought outside and washed. All the cupboards were cleaned up,” said parishioner Rita Salmon, a native of Baton Rouge, La.

The June 27 earthquake killed 144 people and injured more than 1,500 in and near Adana, 300 miles south of Ankara, the capital.