A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey near the shared border with northern Syria around 8 p.m. local time on Monday. The quake, centered in Turkey’s Hatay province, came two weeks after the same region was devastated by a series of earthquakes and aftershocks that killed more than 46,000 people and reduced towns and city blocks to rubble .
Monday’s earthquake, which struck around noon ET, was originally reported as a magnitude of 6.4 and a depth of 10 kilometers by the United States Geological Survey, which has since revised the measurement to 6.3.
AFAD, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority in Turkey, confirmed this in one of several shared messages Twitter that the last earthquake happened in Hatay. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu called at a press conference that at least 213 people were injured and three people died in Turkey as a result of the quake. In Syria, the authorities had registered at least 120 injured.
As a precaution, the agency advised avoiding the region’s coasts immediately after the quake, as sea levels could rise by as much as 50 cm, or just under 20 inches, as a result of the disaster. A FASHION REMOVED the alert about an hour later, which said in a separate social media update that potential water level changes were no longer serious threats. It cited input from the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, located outside of Istanbul, which had been monitoring the quake’s effects.
The epicenter of the magnitude 6.3 quake was in Defne district of Hatay province, according to the AFAD, which is also where a magnitude 7.8 quake originated earlier this month. The devastating February 6 quake shook the region, displacing about 1 million people in Turkey and Syria and leaving at least 46,000 dead, many of whom were trapped under the ruins as more than 3,400 buildings are estimated to have collapsed. Minutes after the first aftershock on Monday in Hatay, Turkey’s civil protection agency recorded another, slightly smaller quake, measured at a magnitude of 5.8. Numerous smaller tremors were recorded in the surrounding region, which is not unusual.
A general view of the damage following a deadly earthquake as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu take a helicopter tour of earthquake-hit areas of Hatay Province, Turkey, Sunday February 19, 2023. Clodagh Kilcoyne/Pool photo via AP
The Turkish province of Hatay is located on the Mediterranean coast and borders Syria to the south and east. In Aleppo, one of Syria’s most populous metropolitan areas, second only to the capital Damascus, at least local news organizations reported 70 people were hospitalized in the hours after the last earthquake.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay called in one of several announcements following Monday’s earthquake that authorities would continue to investigate the natural disaster and its aftermath. Oktay urged people to follow standard safety protocols and avoid damaging buildings in the area. Turkey’s state-run Andalou news agency reported that the quake was felt in Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt.
Meanwhile, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that six people were injured by falling debris in Aleppo, according to the Associated Press. The Mayor of Hatay said several buildings collapsed, trapping people inside, the AP reported.
This is an evolving story. Check for updates again.
Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria
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