ANKARA, Turkey — A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey today, killing at least 85 people as it collapsed buildings into piles of twisted steel and chunks of concrete. Desperate survivors dug into the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue the trapped and injured.

State-run TRT television reported that 59 people were killed and 150 injured in the eastern town of Ercis, 25 others died in Van and a child died in the nearby province of Bitlis. Turkish scientists estimated that up to 1,000 people could already be dead, due to low housing standards in the area and the size of the quake.

Additional Photos

People rescue a woman trapped under debris after a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey today, collapsing about 45 buildings in Van province. The Associated Press

Ercis, a city of 75,000 in the mountainous province of Van close to the Iranian border, was the hardest hit. It lies on the Ercis Fault in one of Turkey’s most earthquake-prone zones. Van, 55 miles to the south, also suffered substantial damage.

As many as 80 buildings collapsed in Ercis, including a dormitory, and 10 buildings collapsed in Van, the Turkish Red Crescent said. Some highways also caved in, CNN-Turk television reported.

“There are so many dead. Several buildings have collapsed. There is too much destruction,” Ercis mayor Zulfikar Arapoglu told NTV television. “We need urgent aid. We need medics.”

Rescuers in Van scrambled to find survivors in a flattened eight-story building that had shops on the ground floor, television footage showed. Residents sobbed outside the ruins, hoping that missing relatives would be rescued.

“My wife and child are inside! My 4-month-old baby is inside!” CNN-Turk television showed one young man crying.

Witnesses said eight people were rescued from the rubble, but frequent aftershocks were hampering search efforts, CNN-Turk reported.

Serious damage and casualties were also reported in the district of Celebibag, near Ercis.

“There are many people under the rubble,” Veysel Keser, mayor of Celebibag, told NTV. “People are in agony, we can hear their screams for help. We need urgent help.”

He said many buildings had collapsed, including student dormitories, hotels and gas stations.

The quake’s epicenter was in the village of Tabanli, 10 miles  from Van. It struck at 10:41 a.m. local time, at a depth of 12.4 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Turkey lies in one of the world’s most active seismic zones and is crossed by numerous fault lines. Lake Van, where Sunday’s earthquake hit, is in the country’s most earthquake-prone region.

U.S. scientists recorded eight aftershocks within three hours of the quake, including two with a magnitude of 5.6.

Atalay said authorities had no information yet on remote villages but the governor was touring the region by helicopter to assess the damage.

The Kandilli observatory, Turkey’s main seismography center, said the quake was capable of killing many people.

“We are estimating a death toll between 500 and 1,000,” Mustafa Erdik, head of the Kandilli observatory, told a televised news conference.

In Van, terrified residents spilled into the streets in panic as rescue workers and residents using their bare hands and shovels struggled to find people believed to be trapped under collapsed buildings, television footage showed. At least 50 people were treated in the courtyard of the state hospital, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

There was no immediate information about a recently restored 10th century Armenian church, Akdamar Church, which is perched on a rocky island in the nearby Lake Van.

Houses also collapsed in the province of Bitlis, where an 8-year-old girl was killed, authorities said. The quake also toppled the minarets of two mosques in the nearby province of Mus.

NTV said Van’s airport was damaged and planes were being diverted to neighboring cities.

The earthquake also shook buildings in neighboring Armenia. In the Armenian capital of Yerevan, 100 miles from Ercis, people rushed into the streets fearing buildings would collapse but no damage or injuries were immediately reported.

Armenia was the site of a devastating earthquake in 1988 that killed 25,000 people.

Today’s quake also caused panic among residents in several Iranian towns close to the Turkish border, and cut phone links and caused cracks in buildings in the city of Chaldoran, Iranian state TV reported.

An official said the quake was also felt in Salmas, Maku, Khoi and several other towns in northeastern Iran but no damage was immediately reported.

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