(Image source: Koray Pekozkay / Twitter)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

In Turkey’s earthquake-prone eastern region, a large quake devastated cities in Van Province Sunday. Here’s Fox News.

“Brand new raw video out of Turkey, where scores of people are feared dead after a powerful earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude 7.2 quake struck near the city of Van. Right now rescue workers are trying to reach all those people that are several collapsed buildings, as you can see.”

At least four aftershocks followed the quake, the largest being a 5.5, and they could continue for months. Here’s Christian Science Monitor with a rundown of the damage.

“Only one death was immediately confirmed, but scientists estimated that up to 1,000 people could have been killed. The worst damage was caused to the town of Ercis, in the mountainous eastern province of Van, close to the Iranian border.”

Prime Minister Erdogan and other officials reportedly travelled to the region to survey the damage, and the AFP reports the Turkish army has been mobilized for search and rescue.

Official reports say 10 buildings collapsed in the city of Van, and 25-30 in Ercis -- one of those a student dormitory. (Video source: Dipnot / YouTube)

The region is crisscrossed with faultlines and sees a small earthquake nearly every day. But Sunday’s quake not only had greater magnitude, it was also shallower, meaning more damage on the surface. A correspondent tells CNN:

“Some of you may recall, there was a very serious earthquake -- again, a 7.3 earthquake -- here in 1999. That was responsible for thousands and thousands of casualties. The sort of good news, I suppose, is that Van is a much less densely-populated area, but of course, at the same time it’s much more difficult to get services to there...”

Eastern Turkey suffered another deadly quake just last March, when over 40 people were killed.