This is Part 2 of the Eastern Turkey (Van) earthquake report
Update 21:44 UTC :
- The area is still hit with continuous aftershocks, less powerful than yesterday but still strong enough to not trust the inside of the houses. People are warming up in the heat of a campfire and covered with sheets.
- A total of 11,274 tents have been transported to the earthquake area.
- We have seen NO video footage from the countryside, as id did not exist. Everybody in the press is focusing on Van and Ercis. the epicenter was however NOT in these 2 cities but in the countryside. The fatality figures also talk almost alone about Van and Ercis. Can somebody please give more detailed information on the many countryside villages.
- We are warmly surprised on the support from everywhere in the country. Lots of goods have been collected and send to the quake area and almost every province of the country is sending specialized SAR and medical personnel.
- Most of the current actions were only possible because the Van airport was not damaged and was only temporarily closed
- Prime Minister Erdogan is an example for all National leaders coping with earthquakes. We think he broke a record in visiting the earthquake area within 12 hours after the mainshock. Congratulations. Leadership is important in getting all people organized.
Important update 17:26 UTC : The ministry of the interior has released new numbers of the Van tragedy at 17:00 (5 PM) or 14:00 UTC. Dead: 279, injured: 1,300, collapsed buildings : 2,262 (intermediate report)
Update 15:58 UTC : The Turkish minister of the interior said that the fatalities list has grown to 272 (from 264). Ercis has counted 169 fatalities and Van 95, the remaining people are from a few other locations like Bitlis. In Ercis alone 790 people have been treated for all kind of injuries. The people who are still under the rubble of the collapsed buildings are not included in the fatalities number.
Update 14:58 UTC : We are of course constantly looking for more official information on the casualty numbers of the earthquake, but as far as we could trace, they have not changed yet. Independent news-facts are are mentioning more discovered bodies.
Update 14:53 UTC : The ministry of education just announced that 22 teachers have been killed by the earthquake (Van and Ercis combined). 8 students were also reportedly killed and 6 injured. Many schools in the area collapsed or have been seriously damaged.
Update 14:16 UTC : The GDP of Mus, Hakkari, Van and Bitlis together (4 provinces) was in the order of 8.66 billion TRY back in 2008 (around 6.45 billion USD 2008). 21.3% was Agriculture, around 15.8% was industry and 62.9% was services.
Update 13:52 UTC : 2 teachers have been found under the rubble in Ersic. The bar where they had frequented collapsed.
Update 12:00 UTC : Some positive news from the Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Bashir Atalay. He said in a press conference that the situation in 84 villages surrounding Ercis is now under control and that only 3 fatalities were reported. Of course a lot of damage and wounded, but the expected death toll would certainly be a lot better than computed in the theoretical damage / fatalities engines.
Update 11:45 UTC : 15 mosques were damaged and 10 Koran school students lost their life when a Koran school collapsed in Van.
Update 11:11 UTC : Until now almost all videos were showing Van damage. The video below is a report from Ercis, the town with the highest losses so far. You will see that some houses are still standing next to others changed into rubble. It looks to us that most of the collapsed buildings (not all, it is not that simple) were not build with enough earthquake resistant guidelines. In case of older buildings, we can still understand what happened, but some collapsed buildings (also in the Van videos) seem to be rather new.
Via : http://earthquake-report.com/2011/10/23/very-strong-dangerous-earthquake-in-eastern-turkey/