Turkish earthquake kills dozens

It caught many as they slept, crumpling buildings into piles of rubble. Panicked survivors fled into the streets as more than 50 aftershocks rattled the region.

The 6.0 magnitude quake hit at 4.32am local time (0232 GMT) near the village of Basyurt in Elazig province, about 340 miles east of the capital, Ankara.

Government officials put the death toll at 51 with more than 30 other people injured.

The worst-hit area was the village of Okcular where 17 people were killed. As relatives rushed in for news of their loved ones, authorities blocked off the area so ambulances and rescue teams could manoeuvre on the village's narrow roads. Residents lit fires to keep warm in the winter cold.

"The village is totally flattened," village administrator Hasan Demirdag said.

Ali Riza Ferhat of Okcular said he was woken up by the jolt. "I tried to get out of the door but it wouldn't open. I came out of the window and started helping my neighbours he said. "We removed six bodies."

Another 13 people were killed in the village of Yukari Demirci.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged residents not to enter any damaged homes, warning they could topple from aftershocks that could last for days.

Mr Erdogan blamed the region's mud-brick buildings for the many deaths and said the government has instructed its housing agency to construct quake-proof homes in the area.

Ambulance helicopters, prefabricated homes and mobile kitchens were being sent, and Turkey's Red Crescent aid group rushed in tents and blankets.

The quake was also felt in the neighbouring provinces of Tunceli, Bingol and Diyarbakir, where residents fled to the streets in panic and stayed outdoors.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, much of which lies on top of two main fault lines. In 1999, two powerful quakes struck the north-west of the country, killing about 18,000 people.

The Elazig quake followed deadly tremors in Haiti and Chile, but Bernard Doft, the seismologist for the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in Utrecht, Holland, said there was no direct connection between the three.

"These events are too far apart to be of direct influence to each other," he said.

Richard Luckett, a seismologist from the British Geological Survey, said there has not been a surge in global seismic activity.

"If there was a big increase in the number of magnitude 6.0s in the past decade we would know it because we would see it in the statistics," he said. "We haven't seen an increase in 7.0s either."

He said scientists often see strong quakes but they do not get reported because the damage or death toll is minimal.

"The point is that earthquakes are common and always have been," he said.

In other Turkish earthquakes, a 5.7-magnitude one in 2007 damaged buildings in Elazig and a 6.4-magnitude one in 2003 killed 83 children when a school dormitory collapsed in Bingol. The collapse was blamed on poor construction.

Safety fears as US troops quit haiti

US troops were leaving Haiti's earthquake-shattered capital yesterday amid fears that UN peacekeepers and local police will not be able to maintain order.

More than half a million people still live in vast encampments around Port-au-Prince and some Haitians and aid workers also fear the departure of the American troops is a sign of dwindling international interest in the plight of the Haitian people.