Another earthquake struck the border region between Turkey and Syria on Monday, just two weeks after the area was devastated by a larger tremor that killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes.
Monday’s quake, this time measuring 6.3 magnitude, was concentrated near the southern Turkish city of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.
It struck at a depth of just two kilometers (1.2 miles), the European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said, possibly amplifying its impact at ground level.
Muna Al Omar said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the latest quake struck.
“I thought the earth would rip under my feet,” she said, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Turkish-Syrian border this afternoon – two weeks after the worst tremor in living memory, sparking panic and damaging buildings in Antakya, Turkey
The quake struck the city of Defne at 8:04 p.m. and was felt strongly in Antakya and Adana, about 200 kilometers (300 miles) north
Two witnesses reported a strong tremor and further damage to buildings in central Antakya, which was hit by two massive earthquakes two weeks ago, killing tens of thousands and destroying buildings and infrastructure.
Other witnesses said Turkish rescue teams ran around after the latest quake, checking to make sure people were unharmed.
The quake comes after the mayor of Hatay said yesterday that more than 21,000 people in the southeastern province were confirmed dead in the brutal tremors two weeks ago – accounting for almost half of the total death toll of 46,000 people.
Lutfu Savas told local broadcaster HaberTurk that another 24,000 people had been injured and the makeshift medical facilities were completely overwhelmed.
“At least 80 percent of the buildings in Antakya will have to be demolished,” Savas said. Antakya is the capital of Hatay and site of the ancient city of Antioch.
The number of confirmed deaths in Turkey from the earthquake rose to 40,689, said Yunus Sezer, head of the country’s disaster management agency AFAD. Around 6,000 other people lost their lives across the border in Syria.
Sezer told journalists in Turkey’s capital Ankara that search and rescue work has ended in nine of the 11 provinces hit by the quake as efforts focus on demolishing unstable buildings to prevent more deaths.
Today’s quake came after the mayor of Hatay said yesterday more than 21,000 people were confirmed dead in the southeastern province
The earthquake wave along the Turkish-Syrian border has led to a humanitarian catastrophe with over 46,000 dead and many more homeless
Images of the devastation following the powerful twin earthquakes in Kahramanmaras two weeks ago
Bird’s-eye view footage captured over Turkey’s Hatay province shows the extent of the destruction. More than 21,000 people died in this province alone
Hours earlier today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a visit to Turkey, said Washington would help “for as long as necessary” as rescue efforts following the February 6 earthquake and its aftershocks eased and the focus shifted to urgent housing needs. and reconstruction work.
The death toll from the tremors two weeks ago rose to 41,156 in Turkey, the country’s disaster and emergency management agency said on Monday, and is expected to rise further as 385,000 homes are known to have been destroyed or severely damaged were damaged and many people are still missing.
President Tayyip Erdogan said construction work on nearly 200,000 homes in 11 earthquake-hit Turkey provinces would start next month.
Total U.S. humanitarian assistance in support of earthquake response in Turkey and Syria has reached $185 million, the U.S. State Department said.
Among the earthquake survivors are about 356,000 pregnant women who urgently need access to health services, the UN Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency (UNFPA) said.
That includes 226,000 women in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria, of whom about 38,800 will give birth over the next month. Many of them took refuge in camps or faced freezing temperatures and struggled to get food or clean water.
In Syria, already wracked by more than a decade of civil war, the north-west has seen the highest number of deaths, where 4,525 people have been killed, according to the United Nations. The area is controlled by insurgents who are at war with troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, making relief efforts difficult.
Syrian officials say 1,414 people have been killed in areas controlled by Assad’s government.
Demolition work and debris removal continues after the powerful twin earthquakes hit Hatay on February 19, 2023
Lutfu Savas told local broadcaster HaberTurk that another 24,000 people were injured in Hatay (pictured).
Rescue operations are underway in Kahramanmaras, the site of the epicenter, and Hatay. “We continue this effort every day in the hope of reaching a living brother or sister,” he said.
But there has been no sign of anyone being dug alive from the rubble since three members of a family – a mother, a father and a 12-year-old boy – were retrieved from a collapsed building in Hatay on Saturday. The boy later died.
The death toll now totals more than 46,000 in Turkey and Syria, but the UN has said it may take time to determine the full extent of the deaths.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in southern Turkey early this morning and, accompanied by his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, set off for a tour of the earthquake-disaster area, including Hatay.
Blinken is on his first trip to NATO ally Turkey since taking office two years ago and will visit a tent city in Hatay that has been set up for those displaced by the earthquake before touring an aid distribution center.
The senior US diplomat will also inspect US relief efforts and speak with members of USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team, a rapid response group of disaster experts.
He will fly to Ankara later on Sunday for talks with Turkish officials, including an expected meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Some 105,794 buildings inspected by Turkey’s Ministry of Environment and Urbanization are either destroyed or damaged to the point of demolition, the ministry said today.
Of these, 20,662 collapsed, the statement said. The damaged or destroyed buildings contained more than 384,500 units, mostly apartments.
Turkey lies on several fault lines, which is why infrastructure legislation dictates that many structures must be reinforced and built to meet strict building codes.
In the past 14 years since the 1999 earthquake, huge investments of more than $1 billion have been made in retrofitting buildings to ensure they meet standards, but most of this has been made around Istanbul and Ankara – the large metropolises in the north.
In the southern provinces devastated by last week’s quakes means a lack of oversight – and a loophole in government policy that allows builders and developers who have failed to meet standards to pay fines, rather than being forced to to improve their buildings – thousands of people probably died as a result of poor building practices.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, walks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu after a helicopter tour of the earthquake-hit areas of Hatay province Sunday, February 19, 2023, at Incirlik Air Force Base near Adana, Turkey has undertaken
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu after a helicopter tour of earthquake-hit areas of Hatay province at Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey, February 19, 2023
Demolition work and debris removal continues after the powerful twin earthquakes hit Hatay on February 19, 2023
This photo shows collapsed buildings in the city of Antakya on February 19, 2023
Eyup Muhcu, president of Turkey’s Chamber of Architects, said it was “well known” that many buildings, including modern dwellings, built since the introduction of earthquake-resistant building codes did not meet the requirements.
Muhcu told the Associated Press that the Turkish government has legalized unsafe buildings by allowing developers to pay fines instead of repeating their shoddy work.
Turkey’s Disaster Management said that in the days after the first quake, about 6,040 aftershocks hit the 11 provinces that make up the government-declared disaster area.
The first tremor measured 7.8 magnitude, followed nine hours later by a 7.5 magnitude tremor.
Orhan Tatar, general manager of the AFAD agency, said 40 aftershocks were rated at 5 to 6, while one was recorded at 6.6.
“It is extremely important to stay away from and not enter damaged buildings,” he said at a televised press conference in Ankara.
He also warned of “secondary disasters” such as landslides and rockfalls.
Two weeks after the last earthquake, humanitarian supplies are dwindling in Syria and the devastation is still palpable. Equally alarming is the threat of explosive remnants of war (ERW) from 12 years of war and continued bombing in the North West region, looming over humanitarian workers and a population stretched to the limit.
Syria is heavily contaminated with land mines, ERW and improvised explosive devices polluting every part of the country, particularly in the northwest where the earthquake was severely felt.
A magnitude 7 earthquake has an energy equivalent to that of an H-bomb of about five megatons. It is likely that the two February 6 earthquakes released a significant amount of unexploded ordnance and, in that sense, reduced the overall potential ERW threat in the region.
However, the earthquakes also likely displaced some of the landmines and ERW, particularly in the rubble where rescue teams are working and which locals continue to dig through with their bare hands.