7.2 Scale Earthquake Attachs Turkey Today

The USGS has reported on October 23, 2011 at 1:41 pm local time a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that has rocked south eastern Turkey. The earthquake was located 16 km north-north-east of Van, Turkey at a depth of 20 km. Massive wide spread damage and hundreds of deaths have been reported.

As many as 1,000 people were feared killed Sunday when a powerful earthquake struck Turkey, collapsing dozens of buildings and pulling down phone and power lines in the southeast of the country, officials and witnesses said.

Emergency workers battled to rescue people trapped in buildings in the city of Van and surrounding districts on the banks of Lake Van, near Turkey's border with Iran.