A strong quake has shattered buildings near the eastern Turkish city of Van, killing at least 70 people and trapping an unknown number under rubble.

Casualties are reported to be particularly high in the town of Ercis, close to the Iranian border, where around 30 buildings fell.

Reports spoke of thousands of residents running screaming in the streets.

Fears rose of a death toll in the hundreds as rescuers worked into the night to find survivors.

Some were seen digging through rubble with shovels or their bare hands.

Turkey is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it sits on major geological fault lines.

Two earthquakes in 1999 with a magnitude of more than 7 killed almost 20,000 people in densely populated parts of the north-west of the country.

'One thousand buildings'

The earthquake struck at 13:41 (10:41 GMT) at a depth of 20km (12.4 miles), with its epicentre 16km north-east of Van, the US Geological Survey said.

It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, also centred north of Van, including two of magnitude 5.6.

Of the 70 confirmed deaths, 50 occurred in Ercis alone, Huseyin Celik, deputy leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), told Turkish TV channel NTV.

Up to 80 buildings, including a dormitory, collapsed in the town about 60km north of Van, while 10 fell in Van itself.

Town mayor Zulfikar Arapoglu appealed for help. "We need urgent aid, we need medics," he said.

Ambulances, soldiers and rescue teams rushed to the town, a Reuters photographer reported from Ercis.

Survivors complained of a lack of heavy machinery to remove chunks of cement floors that had pancaked on to each other, the Associated Press reports.

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

"There are many people under the rubble," said the local mayor, Veysel Keser.

"People are in agony, we can hear their screams for help. We need urgent help."

The head of Turkey's seismology institute said hundreds of people could have been killed.

"We estimate around 1,000 buildings are damaged and our estimate is for hundreds of lives lost - it could be 500 or 1,000," said Mustafa Erdik, general manager of the Kandilli Observatory.

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