Turkey: another earthquake kills 3 and injures more than 200

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A new 6.4-magnitude earthquake killed three people and injured more than 200 on Monday in parts of Turkey that were swept away two weeks ago by a massive quake that killed tens of thousands of people. Officials said the movement caused other buildings to collapse, trapping their occupants, and several people were injured in Turkey and Syria.

Monday’s earthquake was centered in the town of Defne in Turkey’s Hatay province, one of the areas hardest hit by the 7.8-magnitude quake that struck the country on February 6. Monday’s quake was felt in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel and even Egypt, followed by a second quake of magnitude 5.8.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said three people were killed and 213 injured. Search and rescue work was underway at three collapsed buildings, where a total of five people were believed to have been trapped.

Hatay Mayor Lutfu Savas reported that several buildings collapsed in the new quake, trapping people inside. He told NTV television that it could be people who had returned to their homes or were trying to remove their belongings from the damaged buildings.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay noted that at least eight people had been hospitalized in Turkey. Syrian state news agency SANA reported that six people were injured in Aleppo by falling debris.

In Hatay, police search teams rescued a person who was trapped inside a three-storey building and was trying to reach three other people inside, HaberTurk TV reported.

The February 6 quake killed nearly 45,000 people in the two countries, the vast majority of them in Turkey, where more than 1.5 million people are in makeshift shelters. Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since then.

HaberTurk reporters reporting in Hatay said Monday’s tremor shook them violently and they were holding on to each other to avoid falling.

In the Turkish city of Adana, eyewitness Alejandro Malaver said people were coming out of their homes into the streets and loading blankets into their cars. Malaver said everyone was very scared and “no one wanted to go home”.

The Syrian Civil Defence, a Syrian opposition group also known as the White Helmets, reported that several people were injured in northwestern Syria after jumping from buildings or being hit by falling rocks. debris in the town of Jinderis, one of the hardest hit by the February 6 earthquake.

The White Helmets said several damaged and abandoned buildings had collapsed in northwestern Syria with no injuries.

In the Syrian city of Idlib, frightened residents prepared to sleep in parks and other public places.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which runs hospitals in northern Syria, said it treated several patients – including a 7-year-old boy – who suffered fear-induced heart attacks after the new quake.

Vice President Oktay said damage inspections were underway in Hatay, urging citizens to stay away from damaged buildings and follow the instructions of rescue teams.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Hatay early Monday, saying his government would start building nearly 200,000 new homes in the area from next month.

Erdogan said the new buildings will be no more than three or four stories tall, will be built on firmer ground and with higher standards, and in consultation with “professors of geophysics, geotechnics, geology and seismology “, among other experts.

The Turkish president specified that the destroyed cultural monuments would be rebuilt according to their “historical and cultural texture”.

Erdogan said around 1.6 million people are currently staying in temporary shelters.

Turkey’s disaster management agency AFAD on Monday raised the confirmed death toll from the Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkey to 41,156. This brings the total death toll in Turkey and Syria to 44,844.

Search and rescue operations for survivors have been suspended in most of the quake-hit area, but AFAD chief Yunus Sezer said search teams were continuing their work in more than one region. dozen collapsed buildings, most of them in Hatay province.

There was no indication anyone was alive under the rubble since three members of a family – a mother, father and a 12-year-old boy – were pulled from a collapsed building in Hatay on Saturday. The child later died.

According to the authorities, more than 110,000 buildings in the 11 Turkish provinces affected by the earthquake have been destroyed or so damaged that they must be demolished.