Turkey hit by two new powerful earthquakes

Our Foreign Staff

Tue, 21 February 2023 at 5:27 am GMT

A new 6.4 magnitude earthquake on Monday killed six people and injured more than 200 in parts of Turkey that were laid waste two weeks ago by a massive quake that killed tens of thousands.

Officials said more buildings collapsed, trapping occupants, and several people were injured in both Turkey and Syria. Six people had died so far in the latest disaster, CNN Turk reported on Tuesday.

Monday’s earthquake was centered in the town of Defne, in Turkey’s Hatay province, one of the worst-hit regions by the magnitude 7.8 quake that hit on Feb 6.

It was felt in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel and as far away as Egypt, and was followed by a second, magnitude 5.8 tremor.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 294 people were injured in Monday evening’s earthquake, with 18 seriously hurt and transported to hospitals in Adana and Dortyol.

In Hatay, police search teams rescued one person who was trapped inside a three-storey building and were trying to reach three others inside, HaberTurk television reported.

Muna Al Omar said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the ground started heaving again.

“I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” she said on Monday, crying as she held her seven-year-old son in her arms.

The Feb 6 quake killed nearly 45,000 people in both countries, the vast majority of them in Turkey, where more than a million and a half people are in temporary shelters.

Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since. HaberTurk journalists reporting from Hatay said they were jolted violently by Monday’s quake and held onto each other to avoid falling.

In the Turkish city of Adana, eyewitness Alejandro Malaver said that people left their homes for the streets, carrying blankets into their cars. Mr Malaver said that “no one wants to get back into their houses”.

The Syrian opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, reported that several people were injured in Syria’s rebel-held north-west after they jumped from buildings or were struck by falling debris in the town of Jinderis, one of the towns worst affected by the Feb 6 earthquake.

The White Helmets said several damaged and abandoned buildings collapsed in Syria’s north-west without injuring anyone. In the Syrian city of Idlib, frightened residents were preparing to sleep in parks and other public places, while fuel lines formed at gas stations as people attempted to get as far as possible from any buildings that might collapse.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which runs hospitals in northern Syria, said it had treated a number of patients including a 7-year-old boy who suffered heart attacks brought on by fear following the new quake.

Fuat Oktay, the Turkish Vice President, said inspections for damage were underway in Hatay, and urged citizens to stay away from damaged buildings and to carefully follow rescue teams’ directions.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, visited Hatay on Monday, and said his government would begin constructing close to 200,000 new homes in the quake-devastated region as early as next month.

Mr Erdogan said the new buildings will be no taller than three or four storeys, built on firmer ground and to higher standards and in consultation with “geophysics, geotechnical, geology and seismology professors” and other experts.

The Turkish leader said destroyed cultural monuments would be rebuilt in accordance with their “historic and cultural texture”.

Mr Erdogan said around 1.6 million people are currently being housed in temporary shelters.