Hundreds dead in Algeria quake
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ALGIERS, Algeria (CNN) -- At least 231 people were killed and more than 1,600 others were injured Wednesday night when a strong earthquake struck northern Algeria, Algerian state-run radio reported.
An entire hospital crumbled in the city of Abu Mardas, the news manager of Algerian Television said. Whole buildings collapsed there and elsewhere, he said.
The hardest-hit cities appeared to be Algiers, Rwaba City and Abu Mardas, according to reports.
State radio called on doctors and paramedics to help the injured, many of whom were heading toward Algiers due to a lack of hospitals in the hardest-hit areas.
Communications were difficult in the affected areas because many telephone poles had fallen or broken, reported Reuters journalist Paul de Bendern.
The quake registered a magnitude of 6.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Denver, Colorado, which monitors seismology worldwide.
Such an earthquake is classified as "strong," capable of causing a lot of damage, especially in areas of poor construction. The USGS said the quake may have caused substantial damage and casualties because of its location and size.
The epicenter was about 75 kilometers (45 miles) east of the capital, Algiers.
Algeria has experienced many destructive earthquakes, the USGS said.
In October 1980, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the city of El Asnam, which today is called Ech-Cheliff, and killed at least 5,000 people.
The same city, when it was called Orleansville, was heavily damaged in September 1954 by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people.
In October 1989, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck about 68 miles west of Wednesday's earthquake, killing at least 30 people.
