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Caritas Arrives in Eastern Turkey After Quake

Survivors gather around a collapsed building in Ercis, near the eastern city of Van, Turkey, 24 Oct. A magnitude 7.2 quake and multiple aftershocks in Turkey have left more than 260 people dead. (photo: CNS/Osman Orsal, Reuters) 

25 Oct 2011 – by Catholic News Service

ISTANBUL (CNS) — A team from Caritas offices in Turkey was headed east to assess needs in the region hit by the Oct. 23 earthquake.

The magnitude 7.2 quake and multiple aftershocks left more than 260 people dead, but the death toll was expected to rise as workers shifted through debris. More than 1,000 people were injured in the quake, which wiped out sections of the city of Van and the town of Ercis.

A statement from Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella Caritas agency based in Rome, said, “Caritas will assess the needs of people whose homes or livelihoods have been impacted by the quake. Access to the area’s villages, where many mud-brick homes have collapsed, may be difficult.”