A shallow 6.4 magnitude earthquake has struck the Turkey-Syria border region, killing at least 3 people, two weeks after the area was devastated by quakes.
According to Al Jazeera and News Agencies, Monday’s aftershock was centered in Turkey’s Southern province of Hatay at a depth of 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), the European Mediterranean Seismological Center said.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that 3 people were killed and more than 200 others were injured during the quake.
The earthquake hit the city of Defne at 8:04 pm (17:04 GMT) and was strongly felt in Hatay’s nearby capital of Antakya and in Adana, 200 kilometres (300 miles) to the North.
A second quake of 5.8 magnitudes shook the region several minutes later, Turkey’s disaster management agency said. It was centred in Hatay’s Samandag district.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency said that the tremors were felt in Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt respectively.
Hatay province is on the Mediterranean Sea, and the disaster agency urged people to stay away from the coast, warning that the quakes might cause the Sea level to rise by 50cm (20 inches).
The Syrian State News Agency-SANA reported 6 people were injured in Aleppo from falling debris while the mayor of Hatay said a number of buildings had collapsed, trapping people inside.
Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from Gaziantep, Turkey, said aftershocks were continuing and there were reports of more structures being destroyed in the region.
Witnesses said Turkish rescue teams are running around after the latest quakes, ready for a rescue mission at the scene.
In a statement, Muna al-Omar said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when Monday’s quakes hit.
“I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” she said, crying as she held her 7-year-old son. “Is there going to be another aftershock?”.
Magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 earthquakes struck Southeast Turkey and neighbouring Syria on February 6, 2023, killing at least 47,000 people and leaving one million homeless. The economic cost of the disaster is expected to run into tens of billions of dollars.
Mehmet Kokum, an assistant professor of geology based in Elazig, Turkey, said there had been more than 5,000 aftershocks since February 6 this year.
“This is quite expected,” he told Al Jazeera News Agency. “We know from our experience the aftershocks will last from months to years. But it’s going to decrease day by day.”
Lutfu Savas, Hatay’s mayor, said a number of buildings collapsed on Monday. Savas said those trapped are believed to have either returned to their houses or were trying to move furniture from damaged homes.
In the Turkish city of Adana, Alejandro Malaver said people evacuated their homes for the streets and carried blankets to their cars, where many plan to sleep.
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Media outlets in Syria’s Idlib and Aleppo provinces reported some buildings had collapsed and Electricity and Internet Services were disrupted in parts of the region, which was also badly affected by the quakes two weeks ago.
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The News organizations said many people evacuated their homes and were gathering in open areas for their safety.
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The Syrian American Medical Society, which runs hospitals in northern Syria, also said it treated a number of patients, including several who suffered heart attacks brought on by fear.
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A volunteer emergency response group in opposition-held areas known as the White Helmets urged residents of Northwest Syria to follow guidelines about how to respond to earthquakes and evacuate buildings.
The death toll from the quakes two weeks ago rose on Monday to at least 41,156 in Turkey, the Disaster Management Agency said and it was expected to climb further. About 6,000 people died in Syria in the same incident.
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An estimation of about 385,000 apartments was destroyed or seriously damaged, and many people remain missing.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said construction on nearly 200,000 apartments in 11 earthquake-hit provinces would begin next month.
