Powerful quake strikes eastern Turkey, kills 57

A powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey on Monday buried villagers as they slept in mud-brick houses, killing at least 57 and injuring dozens more, officials said.

The quake, which measured 6.0 on the Richter scale, struck at 4:32 am (0232 GMT) at a depth of five kilometres, with an epicentre near the Karakocan town in Elazig province, the Istanbul-based Kandilli observatory said.

Rescuers struggled to dig survivors from the rubble after the tremor tore down mud-brick houses in several mountainous villages in the mainly Kurdish area, killing whole families in their sleep.

In nearby villages, locals lit fires to keep warm on the streets after rushing out of their houses in panic before dawn as the quake struck.

A Red Crescent team has reached the quake zone and set up a crisis center, meanwhile rescuers worked to search for survivors still trapped under rubble.

The quake toppled the minarets of three mosques in villages in the area, said Elazig governor Muammer Erol.

"The number of people injured is not clear. Ambulances keep on going back and forth. Rescue work is continuing. Our gendarmerie and civil defense teams are at work," he said.

More than a dozen smaller aftershocks followed the main quake, Kandilli said.

Panicked residents rushed out of their houses onto the streets when the quake hit and many stayed outside fearing aftershocks in the town of Tunceli, some 40 miles (64 km) from the epicenter of the quake.

"There was a lot of fear and panic among the people. It lasted about a minute. We felt it very strongly and everyone tried to get out onto the street," Nursel Sengezer, a Dogan News Agency correspondent in Elazig, told broadcaster CNN Turk.

Turkey is criss-crossed with faultlines and frequently suffers earthquakes. A large earthquake measuring 7.4 killed some 18,000 people in August 1999.