At least six people were killed and more than 300 injured in two powerful earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey on Monday, collapsing some buildings and causing panic among survivors of the devastating quakes two weeks ago.
The Turkish Ministry of Health has already indicated that 294 injured have been identified so far, including 18 in critical condition. The previous balance pointed to three deaths and 213 wounded.
The strongest aftershocks from Monday’s quake were felt in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel and even Egypt.
The Turkish national emergency service (Afad) located the epicenter of the strongest earthquake, of magnitude 6.4, in the Defne district, south of the city of Antakya, in Hatay province, one of Turkey’s 11 regions. ravaged for 15 days. by two earthquakes that killed at least 44,000 people, in Turkey and Syria, and registered a second aftershock, of magnitude 5.8, with its epicenter in Samandag.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said three people were killed and 213 injured, the Associated Press (AP) agency reported.
Search and rescue operations are ongoing in three collapsed buildings, where a total of five people are trapped, it added.
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that six people were injured in Aleppo due to falling debris.
The Syrian Civil Defense, which operates in the areas of opposition to the regime, also known as the White Helmets, reported that several people were injured in the north-west of Syria controlled by the rebels in the city of Jinderis, one of the most affected by the attacks. February. 6 earthquake.
The White Helmets reported that several damaged and abandoned buildings collapsed in northwestern Syria without injuring anyone.
The strongest impact was felt in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel and even Egypt.
The initial tsunami alert, due to the proximity of the epicenter to the Mediterranean coast, was canceled shortly after by the Turkish authorities.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay noted that eight people were hospitalized with injuries and warned the public not to enter the buildings.
Refik Eryilmaz, the mayor of Samandag, the coastal town near where the second quake struck today, told NTV station that several buildings had collapsed and it was not known whether people were inside.
The same source added that some residents had taken refuge from the intense cold in the remains of buildings damaged by the earthquakes two weeks ago, and were desperately asking for tents to be sent to house the population.
Suzan Sahin, a Hatay MP from the opposition CHP party, told HalkTV that nine buildings had collapsed and that there were certainly deaths, though she could not specify how many.
Lütfü Savas, mayor of Antaquia, whose urban center is ten kilometers from the epicenter, also pointed out that several buildings collapsed with people inside.
According to journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP), the earthquake was felt with great violence in Antaquia and Adana and caused panic among the population already hard hit by the recent tragedy, raising large clouds of dust in the ruined city.
Ahmet Ovgun Ercan, a prestigious geophysicist from the Istanbul Technical University, assured the HalkTV station that this earthquake, which he estimated to last 17 seconds, is a normal phenomenon and anticipated that some already damaged buildings would have collapsed.
Since the earthquake on February 6, practically no building in Antaquia is habitable, but there are teams working to remove the rubble that could have been stranded by the landslides.
In addition, many survivors are in the habit of gathering around campfires in front of collapsed buildings to help identify bodies and may be at risk if a neighboring surviving building collapses.
“It was terrible, broken glass fell on us. Everyone left the shops in a panic. With the darkness you still can’t see what happened,” Ugur Sahin, a reporter for the BirGün newspaper, told Efe by phone.
More than 44,000 people died in Turkey and Syria after the strong earthquakes on the 6th: the earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale -with its epicenter in Turkish territory- was followed by several aftershocks, one of them measuring 7.5.
The World Health Organization (WHO) raised this Friday to 84.5 million dollars (79 million euros) the international request for financial aid for those affected by these earthquakes.
According to AFAD, there have been more than 6,000 aftershocks since the earthquakes that devastated southern Turkey and Syria.
News updated at 9:05 am on February 21
Source: TSF
