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An earthquake of 6.0 magnitude has rocked eastern Turkey, killing at least 51 people, and injuring 100 others.
The quake struck at 04:32am local time (02:32 GMT) on Monday, centered on the village of Basyurt in Elazig province, about 550km (340 miles) east of Ankara, the country's capital, and caught many people in their sleep.
The quake affected six villages near the town of Kovancilar, toppling stone or mud-brick homes and minarets of mosques, officials said.
The worst-hit area was the village of Okcular where some 17 people were reported killed.
Aftershocks
CNN-Turk television said rescue teams dispatched to the area were working to save six people trapped under rubble.
The quake was followed by more than 30 aftershocks, the strongest measuring 4.1, according to Istanbul's Kandilli Observatory seismology centre.
Al Jazeera's Serpil Karacan, reporting from Turkey, said the military was "involved in rescue efforts" and that it was in control of some of the roads.
"The population [in the affected area] is not high and for that reason the death toll may not be as high as it would have been in the city centre.
"We've had a very wet winter and in this [affected] place there are mud houses and their ceilings are very heavy. They have been taking a lot of water this year and that may have contributed to the damage we see," she said.
At least four of the victims were young sisters, according to the private Dogan news agency.
Nursel Sengezer, a reporter for the agency in Karakocan, said two more children were buried under rubble in the village of Yukari Kanatli.
Villages 'flattened'
"Everything has been knocked down, there is not a stone in place," Yadin Apaydin, an administrator for the village of Yukari Kanatli, said.
Authorities blocked access to Okcular village, to facilitate the entry and exit of ambulances and rescue teams on the village's narrow roads.
"The village is totally flattened," Hasan Demirdag, Okcular's administrator, told NTV television.
The quake was felt in neighboring provinces of Tunceli, Bingol and Diyarbakir where residents fled to the streets in panic and spent the night outdoors.
The epicenter was in eastern Turkey, 45km (28 miles) west of the town of Bingol, and 625km (388 miles) east of Ankara.
Deadly earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which is crossed by several active fault-lines.
Two powerful quakes in the heavily populated northwest claimed about 20,000 lives in August and November 1999.
In 2003, an earthquake measuring 6.4 brought down a school dormitory in the neighboring province of Bingol province, killing 83 children
In 2007, an earthquake measuring 5.7 damaged buildings in Elazig.
PHOTO CAPTION
Rescue workers and people remove rubble from a destroyed house in Okcular village in the eastern province of Elazig, Turkey, Monday, March 8, 2010.
Al-Jazeera
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