A powerful earthquake rocked western Turkey yesterday, killing at least 45 people, and authorities said they feared the death toll would keep rising.
More than 170 people were injured as dozens of buildings collapsed and panic gripped the people in Afyon province, where residents jumped from balconies and windows, local officials said.
"We fear that the death toll will rise," Construction Minister, Mr Abdulkadir Akcan, warned, saying a fault line had opened near the town of Sultandagi, where most of the deaths occurred.
But he added: "A huge disaster was prevented because it is Sunday and the people were not at work." At least 11 people were trapped under debris in the province of Afyon, the interior ministry said, adding that 77 buildings had been razed there.
The quake rumbled through the province at 7 a.m., with its epicentre near Bolvadin town, some 300 kilometres southwest of the capital Ankara, and was followed by a number of aftershocks.
Istanbul's Kandilli seismological institute said the magnitude of the first quake was 6.0 on the Richter scale, while the most powerful aftershock, which hit about two hours later, measured 5.3.
A French seismic centre, however, said the first quake measured 5.6 on the Richter scale and the second one 6.0. The rumbling was felt hundreds of kilometres away in central and northwestern Turkey.
The country is criss-crossed by fault lines and two massive quakes in the northwest in 1999 killed around 20,000 people, with shoddy building standards left to blame for many of the deaths.
Yesterday's tremor knocked down the minarets of several mosques and caused significant material damage to many buildings as well as to communications and infrastructure.
Shocked residents remained in the streets, awaiting help and trying to telephone relatives as civil defence teams worked in the rubble looking for survivors. The Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, flew to the region along with several other ministers.
He sought to calm the fears of residents. "The state is taking all necessary measures and is meeting all needs.
"The state is doing its best," he said in Bolvadin.
He urged people to remain cautious in the next several days, warning that aftershocks were expected to continue.
Mr Ecevit said the disaster caused the most damage in Bolvadin as well as the towns of Sultandagi and Cay, and urged residents not to spend the night in non-secure buildings.
After being caught hopelessly unprepared for the 1999 quakes, authorities yesterday immediately dispatched rescue teams and humanitarian supplies, including 1,000 tents, to the region.
A field hospital was set up in Bolvadin, while crisis desks in related ministries were co-ordinating rescue efforts.
Non-governmental medical groups and rescue teams, which mushroomed after the 1999 tragedy, also departed to Afyon.
The first international offer for assistance came from Turkey's long-time rival Greece, but Turkish authorities said that the country was not yet in need of foreign help.