The New York Times and other sources are reporting that a 5.6-magnitude earthquake in the eastern same region hit by a larger earthquake two weeks ago killed at least seven people and trapped others. Two of the buildings that collapsed were hotels.
The BBC says that Wednesday's quake was centred 10 miles south of Van, a small city on the southeastern border of Turkey. (Istanbul is in the northwestern part of the country, well over 1,000 miles away.)
The Washington Post is reporting that Van’s most prominent hotel, the Bayram Hotel, survived the October quake with some cracks and a damaged elevator. The hotel was one of the buildings that collapsed, as well as the Aslan Hotel, a budget property in Van. Alper Kucuk from the Turkish Red Crescent told the BBC that 11 people had been rescued from the rubble of the Bayram.
According to CNN, more than 100 people are buried under the debris, and a total of 25 buildings collapsed. Of these, 22 had been empty since a 7.2 earthquake devastated parts of eastern Turkey on October 23. Last month's quake killed more than 500 people.
Keep visiting www.travelagentcentral.com for further updates on this developing story.
Photo of Van courtesy of Evgeny Genkin