Nine people were killed and buildings collapsed across southeastern Turkey when a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck near the border with Iran, injuring more than a hundred in villages and towns in both countries, government officials said. In Turkey, three of the dead were children, and 50 people were injured, including nine critically.

The shallow tremor caused more than 1 000 buildings to collapse in Turkey, prompting a brief rescue effort to find those trapped under rubble.

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.

There were several aftershocks including a larger tremor measuring 6.0 magnitude that stuck nearby 10 hours later. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from that quake, which was also fairly shallow and potentially dangerous.