A powerful earthquake toppled scores of buildings in central Turkey, killing at least 45 people, injuring more than 200 and sending terrified residents running from their homes. Deputy Governor Halil Ebrahim Turkoglu of the central Anatolian Afyon province said that more than 150 buildings in the stricken area had collapsed. The most seriously damaged buildings were shops and public offices. Rescue workers in the worst-hit town of Sultandagi were digging with shovels and hands to pull out the bodies of a couple believed to be under the debris of a collapsed three-story building. Sultandagi is located some 30km south of the town of Bolvadin, the quake’s epicentre. The quake caused 15 buildings and the minarets of four mosques to collapse in Bolvadin, located about a three-hour drive from Ankara, the nation’s capital. The government rushed civil defence teams with sniffer dogs to the quake-hit area and also sent 3,000 blankets and 1,000 tents to the region, and troops set up tent cities to house the homeless.
Other important events
1830 Greece is declared independent under the protection of France, Russia and Britain.
1867 Meiji becomes Emperor of Japan.
1894 The Dirigo, first steel sailing ship, is launched at Bath, Maine, in United States.
1913 Bulgarians resume war with Turkey.
1931 Earthquake kills 256 people in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.
1959 A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, claims the lives of rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson.
1966 Unmanned Soviet spaceship Luna 9 makes soft landing on Moon and begins sending signals back to Earth.
1969 Dr Eduardo Mondlane, president of Mozambique National Liberation Front, is killed by a time-bomb in Tanzania.
1973 Fighting in Vietnam comes to a halt after US and North Vietnam’s ceasefire goes into effect.
1984 An infertile woman in a California hospital becomes what is believed to be the world’s first to give birth to baby from donated embryo.
1986 Oscar Arias is elected President of Costa Rica.
1989 In Paraguay, top military commander seizes power in coup following night of fighting.
1992 Avalanches kill at least 178 people in seven mountain villages in south-east Turkey.
1994 US lift the 19 years trade embargo against Vietnam.
1995 Space shuttle Discovery blasts off with a woman in pilot seat for the first time.
1996 An earthquake ravages Lijiang, China, killing at least 210 people.
2004 An 11-storey apartment building collapse in central Turkey, killing at least 15 people.
2005 A cargo plane carrying goods from Sharjah crashes shortly before landing at Khartoum International Airport, killing nine people.
2006 Hundreds die as Egyptian ferry carrying about 1,400 people sinks in the Red Sea.
2007 A suicide truck bomber strikes a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, killing 137 people.
2008 Iraq’s presidency council issues a law to allow lower-ranking former Baath party members to reclaim government jobs.
2012 British Energy Secretary Chris Huhne quits over speeding charge.
2013 India approves death sentences for sexual violence against women under which rape that leads to death of the victim.
2015 The UAE is named the world’s largest donor of official development assistance.
2016 Qasr Al Hisn festival opens in Abu Dhabi.
