Turkey hit by earthquake

Rescue teams are desperately searching for people trapped under rubble after a strong earthquake hit Turkey's eastern Van region on Sunday.

Hundreds of people have died, whilst many thousands have been left injured in the 7.2 magnitude quake. Tens of thousands have been sleeping outside in freezing conditions.

Turkey is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it sits on major geological fault lines.

Two earthquakes in 1999 with a magnitude of more than 7 killed almost 20,000 people in densely populated parts of the north-west of the country.

The earthquake struck at 13:41 (10:41 GMT) at a depth of 20km (12 miles), with its epicentre 16km north-east of Van in eastern Turkey.

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