For residents of the Turkish city of Erzincan (pop. 150,000), death visited with savage abruptness at 7:20 p.m. last Friday. An earthquake that registered at least 6.2 on the Richter scale leveled 200 buildings, leaving more than 500 people dead -- the toll could climb well past 1,000 -- and at least 2,000 injured. "All of a sudden I saw the wall coming down and the city swinging like a cradle," said Ahmet Elden, whose wife and four children were trapped in their wrecked apartment. "I can still hear the cries of my son calling for me."
The temblor that convulsed...