A 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Elazig province in eastern Turkey yesterday, leaving at least 18 people dead and missing.

"The earthquake killed 13 people in Elazig province and 5 others in Malatya province," Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said today after coming to the scene of the rescue operation.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said more than 500 people were injured and rescue workers were looking for 30 people buried under the rubble. At a collapsed building collapsed in Elazig, rescuers had to pick up bricks and bricks and lift high from the rubble. Rescuers in many other places use motor vehicles to make way, taking injured people to emergency.

Minister Soylu described the earthquake as a "level 3" under Turkey's emergency response plan, meaning it was a national disaster but did not need international help. He said Turkey had experience from previous earthquakes. Unmanned aircraft have been deployed in search and rescue activities and inter-provincial liaison.

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) warns people not to return to houses damaged by aftershocks that could cause them to collapse. The agency also announced that beds, pillows and tents are being taken to the disaster area, where night temperatures drop below 0 degrees Celsius.

"Our house has collapsed. We cannot go inside," said a 32-year-old man in the town of Sivrice, near the epicenter of the earthquake.

"In our village, many people have died. I hope God will help us. Our cattle are dead. Families sit by the fire to heat overnight," said a man named Sinasi. to speak.

People in Syria, Iran and Lebanon also felt the earthquake.

Turkey has been struck by many major earthquakes. More than 17,000 people were killed and about half a million were homeless in a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in August 1999 in the city of Izmit, 90 km from Istanbul. In 2011, an earthquake in the city of Van and the town of Ercis in northern Turkey also killed 523 people.