Death Struck At Noon In Southern Turkey
Lice, South Baetern Turkey, (BBA) -- A massive earthquake rumbled through the mountains and towns of Turkey, (BBA) - - A massive earthquake rem~led through the mountains and towns of Turkey Eastern and Southern province Saturday, September 6, killing thousands and destroying entire villages and towns.
The town of Lice with population 9,000 was leveled off by the earthquake and falling massive rocks from mountains surrounding the town. Only tow days after the earthquake the bodies of men, women and children pulled out of the rubble of several hundred houses and building totaled 2,400 in Lice and surrounding 54 villages. The survivors workedz hard to find their dead, the stench of decaying bodies filled the air, and the dirges of Kurdiash women walling over the bodies of their beloved heard form afar.
The traditionally stone and mud houses of this backward district of Turkey had collapsed on their inhabitants just at noon. When most of them were having lunch or praying in mosques. They were mostly women and children. The lost their live with a bang. There was no way escaping the heavy boulders rolling down from the mountains.
In the aftermath of the disaster the scene in Lice was blood-freezing. Under every stone lay a body. Nobody knew the exact number of dead. Rescue teams worked to recover mutilated bodies from the rublle. Army troops was sent in to dig graves for the victims. Field hospitals set up by the Turkish Red Crescent and Army tended the wounded, But they gave no relief for the ones who lost their beloved ones at the earthquake.
The disaster in Lice, a town in an earthquake prone area of Turkey, came as the worst natural tragedy since 1966, when a similar earthquake in the same area killed more than 2500 persons.
Now the people of Lice are trying to heal their wounds but there is nothing forzthem to replace their lost ones.
The pictures show the devastation caused by the killer earthquake in Lice, the survivors and their sorrow for the victims. KTurkish troops digging graves, and the people of Lice as they carry their lost ones to their graves.
Photo measures 7 x 9.5 inches.
Photo is dated 8-9-1975.
Photo back:
