Turkey Has 6.3 Magnitude Earthquake: “Thought Earth Was About To Break Open”
Suleyman Soylu, the interior minister, reported that three people were killed and more than 200 injured.
Hardly two weeks had passed since the region had been ravaged by a more powerful earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes in the border region between Turkey and Syria.
The 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck on Monday was centred close to the southern Turkish city of Antakya and felt across Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported that it occurred at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).
Hatay Mayor Lutfu Savas said the HaberTurk broadcaster that he has heard stories of some individuals being trapped under debris during the most recent earthquake. According to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, there were three fatalities and over 200 injuries.
Residents in Samandag reported more houses collapsing although the majority of the population had already fled following the initial tremors, according to the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority AFAD, which recorded one person killed there. The streets were dark and deserted, surrounded with piles of trash and furniture.
Muna Al Omar claimed that as the ground began to tremble once more, she was in a tent in a park in the heart of Antakya.
While sobbing and clutching her 7-year-old son in her arms, she added, “I felt the earth was going to break up under my feet.
While rescue efforts in the wake of the Feb. 6 earthquake and its aftershocks were winding down, attention switched to critical shelter and restoration work. Hours earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared on a visit to Turkey that Washington would help “for as long as it takes.”
With 385,000 known to have been demolished or significantly damaged, and many individuals still unaccounted for, the dead toll from the quakes two weeks ago in Turkey increased to 41,156, according to AFAD on Monday.
Over 200,000 apartments will start being built in 11 earthquake-stricken areas of Turkey, according to President Tayyip Erdogan.
According to the U.S. State Department, $185 million has been allocated in total by the United States for humanitarian relief to support the earthquake response in Turkey and Syria.
According to the U.N. office for sexual and reproductive health, there are roughly 356,000 pregnant survivors of the earthquakes who urgently require access to medical care.
These include 130,000 women in Syria and 226,000 women in Turkey, with roughly 38,800 of them due to give birth in the coming month. Many of them were battling for food and water while living in camps or outside in the bitter cold.
Assistance to Syria
The majority of casualties in Syria, a country already wrecked by more than ten years of civil war, have occurred in the northwest, according to the UN, where 4,525 people were murdered. Aid attempts are complicated since insurgents in the region are at conflict with soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
According to Syrian sources, 1,414 individuals died in regions that are under Assad’s control.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a medical assistance organisation, reported that a convoy of 14 of their trucks entered northwest Syria from Turkey on Sunday to help with rescue efforts.
The World Food Programme has also put pressure on those governments to stop preventing aid from reaching areas under the authority of the Syrian government.
According to a representative of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 197 vehicles carrying U.N. humanitarian aid had crossed two borders into northwest Syria as of Monday morning.
To contact family members impacted by the destruction, thousands of Syrian refugees living in Turkey have travelled back to their homes in northwest Syria.
On Monday morning, hundreds of Syrians lined up to cross at the Turkish Cilvegozu border crossing.
When Mustafa Hannan dropped off his pregnant wife and young son, he reported seeing 350 people waiting.
After their Antakya home fell, the 27-year-old car electrician stated his family was relocating for a few months. He was utilising a promise made by the authorities that would allow them to stay in Syria for up to six months without losing their opportunity to return to Turkey.
I’m concerned they won’t be let to return, he said. “We are already no longer part of our country. Will our families now also be split apart from us? I’ll lose my life if I rebuild here and they can’t come back.”