CELTIKSUYU, Turkey - Rescuers dug frantically in the rubble of a school dormitory today, hunting for more than 100 children believed trapped after a powerful earthquake rumbled through southeastern Turkey. At least 84 people were killed and 390 injured, officials said.

Dozens of other children have been saved from the debris of the boys' school. Hundreds of terrified parents prayed and screamed, waiting for news.

"My friends are waiting for help in there. They were calling for help as they were pulling me out," 12-year-old Veysel Dagdelen was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency after he was pulled out of the debris.

Rescuers also dug through a destroyed apartment block in an effort to get people out. One man carried a dead baby into a hospital.

The magnitude-6.4 quake struck at 3:27 a.m. and was centered just outside Bingol, 430 miles east of Ankara, the Kandilli seismology center in Istanbul said.

A bridge and at least 25 buildings collapsed in the center of Bingol, a city of 250,000 inhabitants, the mayor said. Damage could be seen throughout the city, where the streets were filled with terrified residents.

The earthquake damaged power and telephone lines. More than 100 aftershocks hit the region, and rescue workers were unable to reach many villages.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at least 84 people were killed, while Housing Minister Zeki Ergezen said the death toll could be 150 throughout the region.

Bingol is a largely rural poor area in the predominantly Kurdish southeast that suffered for years from the fierce fighting between the Turkish army and Kurdish rebels seeking autonomy.

Crews were working to rescue more than 100 primary and middle school students buried under the four-story dormitory. By midday, 72 children were rescued, said rescue worker Muhsin Balgi.

Balgi said the voices of children screaming could be heard from the debris.

"We hope another 50 students will be saved," Balgi said, adding that many were feared dead. The headmaster said 198 students - ages 7 to 16 - were sleeping in the dormitory when the quake hit.

Five students and one teacher were found dead, Bingol Mayor Feyzullah Karaaslan said.

Using cranes and jackhammers, soldiers, rescuers and local residents worked their way through the debris desperately trying to save surviving students. Many injured students were being treated on mattresses laid out near the flattened building.

Naim Gencgul, a 15-year-old boy, suffered a broken arm.

"The whole building was on top of me. We all started screaming," he said.

Relatives rushed toward soldiers every time a rescued boy was carried out on a stretcher to check if their children had been saved. Most of the children are sons of poor farmers from nearby villages that do not have schools.

Parents questioned the quality of the school's construction.

"The stable I built did not collapse, but the school did," said Abdullah Gunala, the father of a rescued student.

Visiting the area, the prime minister said proper inspections had not been carried out and that shoddy material had been used to build the school.

"Investigations will be launched and the guilty will be prosecuted," he said.

Thousands of poorly built buildings collapsed when two massive earthquakes struck western Turkey in 1999, killing some 18,000 people.

Doctors at Bingol's state hospital appealed for help to deal with the crisis. The hospital was seriously damaged in the quake and scores of injured were being treated outside.

"We need every kind of help," said Ilhan Cokabay, chief doctor at the hospital. "Medical supplies, people, whatever."

The mayor said the city also needed more large tents. The Red Crescent sent 3,100 tents, 13,000 blankets, as well as mobile kitchens, generators, ambulances, and four tons of food supplies, Anatolia reported. Soldiers, emergency workers and mountaineers with rescue experience also headed to the area.

The quake, which lasted 17 seconds, was felt in the nearby provinces of Erzincan, Tunceli, Bingol, Erzurum, Kayseri and Sivas.

Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which lies on the active North Anatolian fault. A 1971 quake in Bingol killed 900 people.