This earthquake has struck 2 weeks after 2 devastating quakes rocked Syria and Turkey. (File)
Antakya, Turkey:
One other earthquake struck the border area of Turkey and Syria on Monday, simply two weeks after the realm was devastated by a bigger quake that killed greater than 47,000 folks and broken or destroyed a whole lot of hundreds of houses.
Monday’s quake, this time with a magnitude of 6.4, was centred close to the southern Turkish metropolis of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.
It struck at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) mentioned.
Hatay Mayor Lutfu Savas advised HaberTurk broadcaster that he had acquired studies about some folks caught underneath rubble after the newest quake. Three folks have been killed and greater than 200 injured, Inside Minister Suleyman Soylu mentioned.
In Samandag, the place the nation’s Catastrophe and Emergency Administration Authority AFAD reported one individual lifeless, residents mentioned extra buildings collapsed however a lot of the city had already fled after the preliminary earthquakes. Mounds of particles and discarded furnishings lined the darkish, deserted streets.
Muna Al Omar mentioned she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the bottom began heaving once more.
“I believed the earth was going to separate open underneath my ft,” she mentioned, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.
Hours earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned on a go to to Turkey that Washington would assist “for so long as it takes” as rescue operations within the wake of the Feb. 6 earthquake and its aftershocks have been winding down, and focus turned to towards pressing shelter and reconstruction work.
The loss of life rely from the quakes two weeks in the past rose to 41,156 in Turkey, AFAD mentioned on Monday, and it was anticipated to climb additional, with 385,000 residences recognized to have been destroyed or significantly broken and many individuals nonetheless lacking.
President Tayyip Erdogan mentioned building work on practically 200,000 residences in 11 earthquake-hit provinces of Turkey would start subsequent month.
Whole U.S. humanitarian help to help the earthquake response in Turkey and Syria has reached $185 million, the U.S. State Division mentioned.
Among the many survivors of the earthquakes are about 356,000 pregnant ladies who urgently want entry to well being providers, the U.N. sexual and reproductive well being company has mentioned.
They embody 226,000 ladies in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria, about 38,800 of whom will ship within the subsequent month. Lots of them have been sheltering in camps or uncovered to freezing temperatures and struggling to get meals or clear water.
Syria Help
In Syria, already shattered by greater than a decade of civil battle, most deaths have been within the northwest, the place the United Nations mentioned 4,525 folks have been killed. The realm is managed by insurgents at battle with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, complicating support efforts.
Syrian officers say 1,414 folks have been killed in areas underneath the management of Assad’s authorities.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) mentioned a convoy of 14 of its vans had entered northwestern Syria from Turkey on Sunday to help in rescue operations.
The World Meals Programme has additionally been pressuring authorities in that area to cease blocking entry for support from Syrian government-controlled areas.
As of Monday morning, 197 vans loaded with U.N. humanitarian support had entered northwest Syria by way of two border crossings, a spokesperson for the U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs mentioned.
1000’s of Syrian refugees in Turkey have returned to their houses in northwest Syria to get in contact with kin affected by the devastation.
On the Turkish Cilvegozu border crossing, a whole lot of Syrians lined up beginning early on Monday to cross.
Mustafa Hannan, who dropped off his pregnant spouse and 3-year-old son, mentioned he noticed about 350 folks ready.
The 27-year-old automotive electrician mentioned his household was leaving for a number of months after their residence in Antakya collapsed, taking on a pledge by authorities permitting them to spend as much as six months in Syria with out shedding the prospect to return to Turkey.
“I am fearful they will not be allowed again,” he mentioned. “We have already been separated from our nation. Are we going to be separated from our households now too? If I rebuild right here however they can not return, my life will probably be misplaced.”
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
