"There could be around 100 people [in the rubble]," the Associated Press news agency quoted Mr Sahin as saying.

"It could be more or it could be less but we are not talking about thousands."

But the BBC's Daniel Sandford, in Ercis, said some 80 people were still missing at one collapsed apartment block, which once contained 20 flats.

Up to 80 buildings, including a student dormitory, collapsed in the town, about 100km (60 miles) north of Van, while 10 fell in Van itself.

The office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a total of 970 buildings in the earthquake zone had collapsed.

On Sunday, Mr Erdogan visited the area and said he feared for residents of outlying villages that rescue workers had not yet reached.

"Because the buildings are made of mud brick, they are more vulnerable to quakes," said Mr Erdogan.

"I must say that almost all buildings in such villages are destroyed."

Turkish seismologist Polat Gulkan told the BBC that building regulations were often ignored in Turkey.

'Screaming'

Some 2,400 rescue workers are involved in the relief effort, as are 680 medics, 12 rescue dogs and 108 ambulances - including seven air ambulances, the prime minister's office said.

Tens of thousands slept outside in freezing conditions.

"We stayed outdoors all night, I could not sleep at all, my children, especially the little one, was terrified," Serpil Bilici told AP.

"I grabbed her and rushed out when the quake hit, we were all screaming."

One woman in Ercis begged rescue workers to find her friend, buried in a collapsed building.

"She's my friend and she called me to say that she's alive and she's stuck in the rubble near the stairs of the building," the woman told Reuters news agency.

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay, who is co-ordinating the government's response in the earthquake zone, said tents were being assembled and food distributed.

Turkey's Red Crescent has set up tents in a sports stadium in Ercis.

Prime Minister Erdogan thanked other countries for their offers of help, but said Turkey could cope with the disaster on its own.

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, the US Geological Survey said.

About 200 aftershocks have hit the region, it added, including one of magnitude 6.0 late on Sunday.

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.

Please click here for the original article on BBC News

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