VIDEO CNN's Nic Robertson shows the latest rescue efforts. (September 8) Windows Media 28K 80K People speak about their experiences in the quake with CNN's Walter Rodgers. (September 8) Windows Media 28K 80K GALLERY: Scenes from the Athens Quake MESSAGE BOARD: Mediterranean quakes

September 8, 1999
Web posted at: 8:57 p.m. EDT (0057 GMT)

In this story: Turkish rescuers among the first to arrive Strongest Greek quake since 1981 RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- International rescue teams in Greece labored under a sweltering Mediterranean summer sun Wednesday, digging through tons of rubble to find survivors of the deadly earthquake that struck Athens on Tuesday.

Officials said the 5.9 magnitude quake killed at least 64 people and injured 1500 others. About 60 people were still missing.

The Greek Health and Welfare Ministry said at least 12 children died in the quake, including some who were killed when their nursery collapsed.

Officials in Athens declared a one-day state of emergency Wednesday and urged residents to stay out of damaged homes until the buildings could be inspected.

Hundreds of aftershocks -- including a midnight jolt that registered a magnitude of 4.7 -- have kept nerves on edge in the Greek capital. Many residents, fearing their homes could collapse, slept overnight in parks.

Turkish rescue workers joined forces on Wednesday to search for survivors of Tuesday's earthquake

The scenes of desperate searches and survivors too frightened to go back to their homes were eerily similar to those that followed last month's monstrous quake in western Turkey last month. More than 15,000 people were killed when that quake struck on August 17.

While Tuesday's Greek quake was not nearly as devastating, the comparison was no consolation to the survivors and anxious relatives awaiting news about their loved ones.

Much of the damage was located in Athens' northern suburbs.

A domestic utensil factory collapsed in that section, burying an estimated 45 people. News video of the area showed walls sheared away, leaving some offices eerily intact.

Only a few weeks ago, some of the rescue teams now aiding in the Athens quake were at work in Turkey. Teams from Turkey -- Greece's arch-rival -- were among the first to arrive.

Rescuers labored through the night to cut through mountains of broken concrete slabs, hoping to find the scores of people believed trapped beneath the rubble.

Digging with jackhammers, cranes and even garden tools, the emergency crews sifted through piles of rubble while search dogs sniffed for trapped survivors.

"Only a fraction of those people have been pulled to safety so far," journalist John Psaropoulos said.

More than 100 buildings collapsed, from apartment blocks to factories, most of them in working-class and immigrant areas north of Athens, where construction standards were apparently lower, or contractors used shortcuts, some officials suggested.

"We will look at this with great care," said Interior Minister Vasso Papandreou. "We have some of the strictest earthquake regulations around, and if they were kept, we should not have had this much damage."

There was no apparent damage to ancient sites in central Athens.

Greek scientists said the quake was the strongest to hit Greece since 1981, when a quake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck Loutraki. Greece's deadliest quake in recent times registered a 6.5-magnitude and killed 45 people in the northern port of Thessaloniki in 1978.

Tuesday's earthquake was the strongest to hit the immediate Athens area in nearly a century. A 1914 quake in the region registered a magnitude of 6.

Correspondent Nic Robertson, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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