Turkey, March 08: A Strong earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale shook eastern Turkey early Monday (GMT), killing eleven people, media reports and officials said.
The quake struck at 4:32am (1:32pm AEDT) with an epicenter near the Karakocan town in Elazig province, the Istanbul-based Kandilli observatory said on its website.
Provincial governor Muammer Erol said eleven people were killed when the quake struck.
CNN-Turk reported that five people were killed in the village of Okcular, but gave no further details.
Nursel Sengezer, a Dogan News Agency reporter in Karakocan, said two children had also perished in the village of Yukari Kanatli and that two others were buried under rubble.
The quake was felt in neighboring provinces and sent the residents of Elazig rushing out on to streets in panic, CNN-Turk said.
Several aftershocks were felt in the region.
Deadly earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which is crossed by several active fault-lines.
Two powerful tremors in the heavily populated northwest claimed about 20,000 lives in August and November 1999.
—Agencies