Turkey quake death toll rises to over 200

Ankara, Oct 24 (ANI): Over 200 people have been killed in a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey.

According to the BBC, at least 1,000 have been injured in the 7.2 magnitude quake, many of them in the town of Ercis, where dozens of buildings have collapsed.

The death toll is expected to rise the report said.

The earthquake struck at 13:41 local time (10:41 GMT) at a depth of 20km (12.4 miles), with its epicentre 16km north-east of Van in eastern Turkey, the US Geological Survey said.

It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, also centred north of Van, including two of magnitude 5.6 and 6.0 respectively late on Sunday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the area, has said that villages close to Van were the worst affected.

Turkey is vulnerable to earthquakes because it is located on major geological fault lines. Two earthquakes in 1999 with a magnitude of over seven had killed almost 20,000 people in densely populated parts of the country's north-west. (ANI)