At least five people dead, dozens trapped in rubble following quake in Turkey

At least five people are dead and dozens are trapped in the rubble after an earthquake struck Turkey Wednesday evening.

The 5.7 magnitude quake which hit the province of Van follows a 7.2 magnitude quake in the same region on October 23, which killed approximately 600 people.

“This place has just been through a terrible disaster. Two and a half weeks ago and here they go again,” said Shelterbox Canada’s Ron Noseworthy, working with an aid team dispatched for the previous earthquake.

“One confirmed report is that about 300 more first responders coming in,” he told 680News. “They asked us for some of our tents to put up. The tents handle eight to ten people.”

He said was extensive, with up to 25 completely toppled and “one of them [is] a hotel that had some aid workers that were here working with victims of the previous one, so a pretty sad situation.”

However, many of those were buildings damaged in the previous quake, and as a result, only three of them were occupied.

Meanwhile, the country’s deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said rescue workers pulled 20 survivors from the rubble of three different buildings, adding that the rescue efforts are now concentrated at the site of two collapsed hotels and one apartment building.

Noseworthy’s team is currently on their way to the affected area to set up tents for first responders, allowing them to work in shifts. Meanwhile, the Turkish Red Crescent immediately dispatched 15,000 tents and about 300 rescue workers to the area.

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