FRESH TREMORS IN TURKEY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31144, 22 August 1966, Page 13

FRESH TREMORS IN TURKEY

More Than 3000 Die In ’Quake

f.V Z. Press Association—Copyright >

ISTANBUL, August 21.

New tremors yesterday spread terror among stunned survivors of Friday’s massive earthquake in which, the Turkish radio said, the death toll was expected to exceed 3000.

This would make it one of the worst earthquake disasters in the last 20 years. United Press International reported.

T h e five-minute earthquake wiped out at least 20 mountain villages and laid waste to four provinces in eastern Turkey. Government officials directing relief and rescue operations in the hilly regions near the Soviet frontier said they believed the radio estimate would be about right. A Turkish official said that at least 6000 persons had been injured. Turkey mourned as it went' about the huge task of helping' the injured, burying the dead and caring for the homeless. ■ The Turkish radio banned all music and newspaper pages were bordered in black. The new tremors were feared to have added to the havoc, toppling buildings damaged the day before and pos- 1 sibly trapping rescue workers clawing through wrecked homes for survivors. The seismological institute! in Uppsala. Sweden, said the!

(earthquakes registered yester-I day were "strong” but only' 110 per cent as powerful as Friday’s massive earthquake The new tremors toppled] the few buildings still standing in ruined Hinis while the! Prime Minister, Mr Suleyman] Demirel, was in the town for] an on-the-spot inspection. Townsfolk of Hinis worked desperately to remove rubble] when cries were heard from beneath a wrecked building, I Two million people were] sleeping in the open for fear] ’of further tremors, or be-i : cause their homes were gone, ] Governor Mustafa Urgur! Taled of Mus Province, in the centre of the devastated) area, reported. A truck driver who was’ passing through the area on] his way to Ankara when the) big earthquake occurred said: • I “I was driving on a cobble-i I stone road when all of a sud-l J den the cobblestones started: | popping out of the road bed] ’high into the air. as if they) (were being juggled by a giant] ’underground hand.”

International help for the devastated towns and villages was being concentrated on tents, blankets, and medical supplies, to assist the 5000 Turkish troops at work in the earthquake area. The International Red Cross in Geneva alerted Red Cross' societies throughout Europe to be ready with aid. Tents, clothing and food were being sent from Greece and relief supplies were prepared for dispatch from a Red Cross depot in the Lebanon as soon as the needs of the earthquake victims were known. Relief efforts were also reported from Sweden and Italy. In Britain a team of 20 volunteers sponsored by a relief organisation was standing by to fly to Turkey. 1 American relief teams were already at the scene. Three complete hospitals were flown from the United States base at Adana, Turkey, complete with doctors, nurses and medical supplies. The Turkish Army set up five field hospitals to tend hundreds of injured.