- By Laura Bicker in Hatay and Oliver Slow in London
- BBC News
20 February 2023 at 17:57 GMT
Updated 25 minutes ago
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WATCH: Dashcam footage shows the moment of a new earthquake in Turkey
Three people have died after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey on Monday, weeks after a deadly quake devastated the region.
More than 680 people were injured in Turkey and Syria.
Turkey’s Disasters and Emergencies Agency Afad said the quake struck at 20:04 local time (17:04 GMT), followed by dozens of aftershocks.
A 7.8 magnitude quake struck the same area on February 6, killing more than 44,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
Those killed by Monday’s tremors were found in Antakya, Defne and Samandagi, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said, urging people not to enter potentially dangerous buildings.
Mr Soylu said 213 people were injured in Turkey.
Witnesses told Portal there was further damage to buildings in Antakya, while the mayor of Hatay in southern Turkey said people were trapped under rubble.
“I thought the earth would rip under my feet,” Muna al-Omar, a local resident, told Portal, crying as she held her seven-year-old son. She was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the latest earthquake struck, she said.
Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since the February 6 quake, but the BBC team in the region said the latest quake felt much stronger than previous ones.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 470 injured were hospitalized after the quake, which was also reportedly felt in Egypt and Lebanon.
Afad said there were 32 aftershocks after Monday’s quake, the largest of which measured 5.8 magnitude.
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People react after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Antakya in southern Turkey on Monday
Fear and panic reign in the streets as lines of ambulances and rescue workers try to get to some of the worst-hit areas, where the walls of badly damaged buildings have collapsed.
Some structures that were left standing after the February 6 quake have since collapsed, including a bridge. Many cracks in roads have become deep scars, making it difficult for emergency services to get to where they may be needed.
An AFP journalist reported scenes of panic in Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, which had already been devastated by the previous earthquake – with the latest tremors kicking up clouds of dust across the city.
The walls of buildings were also crumbling, reports AFP, and several people who were apparently injured called for help.
Ali Mazlum said he was looking for the bodies of family members from the previous earthquake when the last one struck.
“You don’t know what to do… we grabbed each other and right in front of us the walls started falling. It felt like the earth was opening up to swallow us,” he said.
In a tweet, Afad initially urged people to stay away from coasts as a precaution against the risk of rising sea levels, although the warning was later removed.
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