Turkey continues rescue work after quake, death toll hits 81

ISTANBUL: Rescue efforts continued in eight buildings in western Turkish city of Izmir on Monday, authorities said, as the death toll from Friday's powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea region rose to 81. Turkish authorities said 79 were killed, all in Izmir, while two teenagers died on the Greek island of Samos.

More than 3,500 tents and 13,000 beds have been supplied to provide temporary shelter, according to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Authority (AFAD), which said 962 people had been injured in Friday's earthquake. More than 740 victims have so far been discharged from hospitals, AFAD said.

Turkey is crossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. In 1999, two powerful quakes killed 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey. The Friday earthquake, which the Istanbul-based Kandilli Institute said had a magnitude of 6.9, was centred in the Aegean Sea, northeast of Samos.