5.7 magnitude earthquake near Iran border kills 9 in Turkey

Areas in Turkey near the Iran border were jolted by a 5.7 magnitude earthquake on Sunday.

Over a thousand buildings in southeastern Turkey collapsed due to tremors leaving nine dead and dozens injured.

Three children were among the dead as over three dozens were reportedly injured.

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Broadcasters and government officials said dozens of villages were rattled in Turkey, which like Iran has a history of powerful earthquakes.

Nearly 150 tents were sent to shelter families in the region, where several schools in the districts of Baskale, Saray and Gurpinar sustained minor damage.

Houses are reduced to rubble after an earthquake hit villages in Baskale in Van province, Turkey, on Sunday. AP

The quake damaged buildings some 90 km to the west in the Turkish city of Van, and to the east in dozens of villages in Iran, where state TV said 75 people were injured including six in hospital, though there were no fatalities.

Crisscrossed by major fault lines, Iran and Turkey are among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Turkish TV footage showed people digging with shovels and their hands in the rubble, as well as furniture and belongings strewn on cracked and snowy roads.

In one village the ground cratered under several buildings, while in others residents were wrapped in blankets outside homes with crumbled and cracked exterior walls, fallen metal roofs and twisted wiring.

"The damage caused loss of life," the governor of Van, Mehmet Bilmez, told reporters standing in front of a pile of cinder blocks and sheet metal. "There is destruction in all four villages" he visited on Sunday morning, he added.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the quake, which hit at 8:53am local time (05:53 GMT), had a depth of 5km.

Agencies