Earthquake mb 5.1 in Eastern Turkey. July 1st, 2004

July 2 (Bloomberg) --
An earthquake in northeastern Turkey killed 19 people and injured 31 others, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified official at the office of the governor of Agri province, near the border with Iran.

The quake, with a magnitude of 5.1, shook three villages in the Dogubayazit district, causing the most damage in Yigincal, which has about 100 houses, the news agency said. Rescuers are clearing the rubble from the earthquake, it said.

Turkey, with many geological fault lines, has frequent earthquakes, Reuters said. A tremor in an industrialized part of northwestern Turkey killed about 18,000 people in 1999.

(Reuters 7-2)