A new and powerful earthquake of 6.4 shakes Turkey and Syria

A new earthquake hit the Turkish province of Hatay on Monday night, which was already devastated by the earthquake a couple of weeks ago.

Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, reported that the epicenter of the magnitude 6.4 earthquake It was located in the city of Defne, in the province of Hatay, very close to Syria. It was followed by a second quake of magnitude 5.8.

NTV television reported that the quake caused some damaged buildings to collapse, but so far there are no reports of casualties.

A general view of the damage following a deadly earthquake in Hatay province, Turkey, on Sunday, February 19, 2023.

Credit: CLODOGH KILCOYNE/AP

The Turkish state agency Anadolu published that the earthquake felt in Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake on February 6 killed about 45,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

According to the news agency The Associated Press (AP)there are reports of more collapsed buildings in both Turkey and Syria after this 6.4 quake in Hatay.

Syria’s state news agency SANA reports six people were injured in Aleppo by falling debris, while the mayor of Hatay says several buildings collapsed, trapping people inside.

Lutfu Savas, the mayor of Hatay, told the AP that several buildings have collapsed in the fresh quake, trapping people inside. Savas believes those trapped are people who had returned to their homes or were trying to move furniture from damaged houses. In the Turkish city of Adana, an eyewitness Alejandro Malaver told the agency that people poured out of their houses onto the streets, carrying blankets in their cars. Malaver added that everyone is scared and that “nobody wants to go back to their homes.”

Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay reported that damage inspections are underway in Hatay and urged citizens to stay away from damaged buildings and carefully follow the instructions of rescue teams. Meanwhile, the disaster management agency, AFAD, urged citizens to stay away from the coast as a precaution against “the risk of sea level rising up to 50 centimeters.”

Number of victims is close to 45,000

The Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, put the death toll from the earthquake in Turkey at 41,156. That brings the total number of deaths in both Turkey and Syria to 44,844.

Search and rescue operations for survivors were called off in most of the quake zone, but AFAD chief Yunus Sezer told reporters that search teams were continuing their efforts in more than a dozen collapsed buildings, most of them in Hatay, the most affected province.

There have been no signs of anyone being pulled out alive since a family – the mother, father and their 12-year-old son – were pulled from a collapsed building in Hatay on Saturday. The child later died.

The European Union health agency has warned of the risk of disease outbreaks in the coming weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that “food and waterborne illnesses, respiratory infections, and vaccine-preventable infections are a risk in the coming period, with the potential to cause outbreaks, particularly when the survivors move to temporary shelters.

1/14

In Turkey, only on Monday and early Tuesday morning, some 7,800 people had been rescued from the rubble of the thousands of buildings that collapsed from the two strong earthquakes, according to the official Anadolu agency. In neighboring Syria, search and rescue tasks are further complicated by precarious assistance services in the midst of war. This aerial view shows residents helped by bulldozers searching for victims and survivors among the rubble in the town of Sarmada, in the countryside of Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

Credit: Burak Kara/Getty Images

2/14

Some 25,000 people, including soldiers, joined the rescue efforts, according to Orhan Tatar, a senior official with the national emergency agency, Afad, who said $13.3 million in urgent funds have been allocated for the ten most affected provinces. The graphic captures how the coastal city of Iskenderun, in Turkey, was seriously affected.

Credit: Burak Kara/Getty Images

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

3/14

The number of deaths has increased steadily since the first balance of victims was given on Monday. Three days after the deadly quakes the death toll had already passed 15,000 as rescue efforts continue to find survivors among the rubble. Aerial view of Harim.

Credit: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Click here to continue with the gallery

4/14

An aerial view shows smoke billowing from collapsed buildings on February 8, 2023 in Hatay, Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 13 million of the country’s 85 million people were affected and declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces. He noted that around 380,000 people have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels.

Credit: Burak Kara/Getty Images

5/14

VIDEO: Images shared on social networks show how buildings collapsed and desperate people ran to safety in the midst of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the border between Turkey and Syria and was followed by powerful aftershocks.

MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

6/14

Syria’s battered medical centers and hospitals in the area controlled by the opposition to Bashar al-Assad quickly filled with the wounded, according to rescue workers. Others, such as a maternity hospital, had to be evacuated, according to the SAMS medical organization. In this aerial image, residents help rescuers search for people trapped in the rubble.

Credit: MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Click here to continue with the gallery

MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

7/14

This is how this area of ​​the city of Sarmada, in the Syrian province of Idlib, was left after the impact of the strong earthquake of magnitude 7.8 whose epicenter was located north of Gaziantep, in Turkey, near the border.

Credit: MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

8/14

An aerial view of another Syrian town hit by the powerful quake, Harem. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said 224 buildings in northwestern Syria were destroyed and at least 325 damaged, including humanitarian aid warehouses.

Credit: Ghaith Alsayed/AP

9/14

VIDEO: The authorities are looking for thousands of missing people under the rubble, so it is believed that the number of fatalities will continue to rise.

Click here to continue with the gallery

MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

10/14

An aerial photo of another area of ​​Syria destroyed by the quake. See also: Why the earthquake on the Turkey-Syria border was so devastating

Credit: MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

11/14

The violence of the earthquakes and the low standards of construction explain why so many buildings collapsed, like the one in the image, in the city of Azmarin, northern Syria. Residents and rescuers took the bodies of several children wrapped in sheets to a hospital.

Credit: Ghaith Alsayed/AP

12/14

VIDEO: Turkey has asked for international help to speed up the rescues, amid aftershocks, cold and rainfall that complicate the tasks. According to Turkish seismologists, it is one of the largest earthquakes recorded in the country, located in one of the most seismic areas in the world.

Click here to continue with the gallery

MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

13/14

A graph of the destruction in Sarmada, in Syria. See also: 8 keys to understanding the severity and devastating potential of earthquakes

Credit: MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

14/14

Another aerial view of an earthquake-hit area in the village of Besnia, Syria, near the border with Turkey. Residents searching for survivors and victims among the rubble.

Credit: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images