120 Killed, 500 Hurt as 7.2 Quake Hits Turkey

In a horrible reprise, a massive temblor struck quake-weary Turkey on Friday, killing more than 120 people, wounding more than 500 and bringing down hundreds of buildings in the country’s northwestern region.

The magnitude 7.2 quake was centered in the town of Duzce in Bolu province, on the fringe of a region devastated by an Aug. 17 quake that claimed more than 17,000 lives. In the August quake, only a handful of buildings were destroyed in Duzce, but the first images broadcast on Turkish television from Duzce late Friday showed a town in ruins.

Thousands of terrified residents poured into the streets as fires erupted across the town. In a cruel twist, the fire station was destroyed in the early evening temblor. Making for a surreal scene, many of the dazed victims were being treated in the main hospital’s garden after the building was evacuated because of structural damage.

Sadettin Cakmakoglu, a doctor, said the hospital urgently needed painkillers and medicine.

“I am calling out SOS for Duzce,” the Anatolian news service quoted him as saying.

The police chief of Bolu province appealed for help, saying Duzce was in desperate need of ambulances and doctors.

“We can hear the moans of people trapped under the rubble. Please tell Ankara to send us doctors and ambulances, please,” the police chief, Ugur Gur, said in shaky tones on NTV television.

Turkish President Suleyman Demirel told a nation still reeling from the August quake: “We are face to face with a new disaster. May Allah prevent major loss of life.”

But Health Ministry official Haluk Tokucoglu said the death toll was expected to rise.

“The casualty numbers are constantly increasing as more dead and injured are being brought to hospitals,” Tokucoglu told state-run TRT television.

Many of the victims were beyond reach, buried under distorted piles of concrete and steel. The NTV channel showed men and women weeping in despair and crying out the names of loved ones trapped under the rubble of their collapsed homes in the town of Kaynasli, about 80 miles northwest of Ankara.

“Allah, Allah, why, why?” one man shouted as he pounded his chest in anger. Another man shouted as he sought vainly to move a slab of concrete: “The press is here. Where is the state?”

Defending the government’s response, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said rescue teams had been rushed to the area along with thousands of Turkish troops. Within an hour of the quake, the military had begun ferrying the wounded to hospitals in Ankara, the capital, he said.

“The state has rushed to help with all of its strength,” Ecevit said. “Wreckage-lifting operations are underway, and offers of help are coming in from friendly countries.”

The government’s slow response to the August earthquake prompted an outpouring of national anger at the once revered Turkish devlet, or state.

Tourism Minister Erkan Mumcu has said August’s quake unveiled the “bankruptcy of the Turkish state.”

“Under the ruins,” he said, “lie the ruins of the Turkish political system.” Cowboy contractors using cheap building materials were largely blamed for the high death toll in that disaster.

Friday’s earthquake, the most severe in Turkey since the magnitude 7.4 August tremor, occurred at 6:57 p.m. and was followed by a series of violent aftershocks that lasted more than three hours.

The disaster struck just before a two-day state visit by President Clinton, who is scheduled to arrive Monday. Clinton was scheduled to tour the August disaster zone Wednesday before proceeding to Istanbul for a European security summit.

Demirel said he didn’t think the quake would cause the cancellation of the summit.

Ahmet Mete Isikara, the head of the national seismological institute, said Friday’s earthquake had been widely expected in the aftermath of the August quake and was the result of a “new tear” in the North Anatolian fault. This “tear” extended eastward this time and stretched for 15 miles.

Police Chief Gul said the main highway connecting the city of Bolu to Istanbul was closed because of quake damage. But details of its full impact remained sketchy, with communication lines still down hours after the earthquake.

The temblor was also felt about 110 miles to the southeast in Ankara, where terrified residents fled their homes. As the initial panic subsided, thousands of people flocked to local hospitals to donate blood to victims. The earthquake was also felt in Istanbul and as far south as the Mediterranean resort of Antalya.