ANTAKYA, Turkey, February 20 (Portal) – A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey near the Syrian border late Monday, sparking panic and further damaging buildings, two weeks after the country’s worst earthquake in modern history struck tens of thousands had killed.
Two Portal reporters said the tremors were strong and persistent, damaging buildings and leaving dust in the night air in downtown Antakya, where it was concentrated. It was also felt in Egypt and Lebanon, Portal reporters said.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said the quake occurred at a shallow depth of 2 km (1.2 miles).
Police patrolled Antakya while ambulances rushed to the earthquake-hit area near the city center. Two people passed out while others filled the streets around Central Park making emergency calls from cell phones.
Portal saw Turkish rescue teams walk around after the latest quake to check on residents, most of whom were living in makeshift tents after the tremors two weeks ago.
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Muna Al Omar, a resident, said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the earthquake struck.
“I thought the earth would rip under my feet,” she said, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.
“Will there be another aftershock?” She asked.
The two major earthquakes on February 6, which also shook neighboring Syria, left more than a million homeless and killed far more than the latest official count of 46,000 people in either country.
Smaller tremors have rattled the region over the past two weeks, but Monday’s quake was the strongest since February 6.
“It was very strong. It knocked us out of our places,” said Burhan Abdelrahman, who was emerging from his tent in a camp in downtown Antakya when the earthquake struck.
“I called relatives in Syria, Adana, Mersin, Izmir, everywhere to check on them.”
Turkey’s civil protection agency AFAD has urged residents to stay away from the Mediterranean coast because of a possible 50 centimeter rise in water from the quake.
Videos posted on social media, which have not been verified by Portal, showed passengers at Antakya Airport running for cover in panic as the quake rattled the glass building.
Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara; writing by Parisa Hafezi; Edited by Mark Heinrich, Alexander Smith and Jonathan Spicer
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