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Turkish police clash with protesters, fire tear gas in quake city

Türkiye Materials 10 November 2011 21:48 (UTC +04:00)
Riot police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse protesters angry at the state's relief efforts after an earthquake, the second in eastern Turkey within three weeks, killed at least eight people in the city of Van, Today's Zaman reported.
Turkish police clash with protesters, fire tear gas in quake city

Riot police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse protesters angry at the state's relief efforts after an earthquake, the second in eastern Turkey within three weeks, killed at least ten people in the city of Van, Today's Zaman reported.

The clash broke out as rescue teams searched for survivors after a 5.6 magnitude tremor on Wednesday night heaped misery on the predominantly Kurdish region, where more than 600 people perished following a major quake on Oct 23.

Many of the survivors of the earlier quake are still living in make-shift camps in the open air and temperatures are plummeting. The latest tremor cut power to the area.

Some 200 demonstrators chanted for the resignation of the provincial governor in a rally close to two city centre hotels that collapsed during the latest quake.

Working through the night, searchers rescued 27 people from the ruins of the hotels, said a statement from Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Administration (AFAD).

Two of those brought out from the rubble, including a 16-month-old, were flown by air ambulance to a hospital in the capital Ankara.

Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay, who visited the devastated Bayram Hotel with Turkey's foreign minister, said 25 buildings had collapsed in Van, of which 23 were empty. There were only people in the two hotels.

The owner of the flattened five-storey Bayram Hotel, Aslan Bayram, told broadcasters that building experts had given his 47-year-old property the all-clear after last month's quake.

At the time of the latest quake, some 15 guests were believed to be in the hotel and some were pulled out on Thursday morning.

"I am cold. Rescue me quickly," said a man aged around 55-60 years old.

When rescued from the Bayram Hotel 11 hours after the quake, he was strapped into a stretcher and carried away to a waiting ambulance.

Since last month's quake, thousands of families have been living in tents, with temperatures dropping to freezing with the onset of winter. But many survivors have complained bitterly over the distribution of tents.

Overwhelmed by the demand in the early days of the disaster, the authorities decided families would be given tents only after their homes were checked by officials to see if they were habitable.

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