Quake in Iran kills eight in neighbouring Turkey
Istanbul: A magnitude 5.7 earthquake in northwestern Iran on Sunday killed at least eight people in neighbouring Turkey and injured dozens more on both sides of the border, authorities said.
"We lost eight of our citizens, including three children," Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was quoted as saying by the official Anadolu news agency.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 21 people were injured and eight of them were in critical condition, according to Anadolu. Turkish broadcaster NTV showed images of collapsed adobe houses in several snow-covered villages in Van province on the Iran border.
"There is nobody trapped under the rubble as of this moment," governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with his interior minister to receive information about the search and rescue operation in the region, the Turkish presidency said.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 9:23 am (local time), was near the Iranian village of Habash-e Olya, less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, according to the US Geological Survey.
The earthquake had a depth of six kilometres, according to Tehran University's Seismological Centre. It injured at least 40 people and 17 of them have been hospitalised in Iran's West Azerbaijan province, according to the country's emergency services.
The same source also said there was damage to buildings in 43 villages. Iran sits on top of major tectonic plates and sees frequent seismic activity. In November 2017, a 7.3-magnitude quake in the western province of Kermanshah killed 620 people.
In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake in southeastern Iran decimated the ancient mud-brick city of Bam and killed at least 31,000 people.
Iran's deadliest quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 that killed 40,000 people in northern Iran, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless.
Turkey's Van province was struck earlier this month by two avalanches which killed 41 people. In 2011, an earthquake measuring 7.1 hit near the same region, killing more than 500 people.
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Telangana CM urges Amit Shah to increase sanctioned strength of IPS officers in state
Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday night and urged him to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state in view of its growing administrative and security needs.
The two leaders also discussed the recent surrender of several senior Maoist leaders before the Telangana Police and other issues.
"During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the issue of Maoist surrenders and their rehabilitation. The chief minister informed Shah that significant improvements in policing have taken place in Telangana over the past two years," an official release here said.
Highlighting that 591 Maoists have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream of society during this period, the chief minister said the state government was providing them compensation and rehabilitation assistance as per the rules.
He requested the Union home minister to extend financial support from the central government for development works in the backward regions of the state.
Reddy also urged Shah to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state from 83 to 105 in line with the state's growing administrative and security needs, the statement said.
The first cadre review after the formation of Telangana was conducted in 2016, while the next review, due in 2021, was delayed and finally carried out in 2025. Even then, only seven additional IPS officers were allocated to the state, the chief minister informed Shah and requested that the third cadre review be conducted in 2026 as per the schedule.
Reddy explained that Telangana, like the rest of the country, is facing several modern challenges, including cybercrime, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, and other emerging security threats.
He highlighted the reorganisation of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri Police Commissionerates, the proposed formation of the Future City Commissionerate and the rapidly growing population in Hyderabad to underline the increasing administrative requirements of the state.
