The first earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.4, happened shortly after 8 p.m. (local time). A 5.8 magnitude earthquake followed three minutes later.
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Posted on 2/20/2023 7:10 PM Updated on 2/20/2023 8:12 PM
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Two new earthquakes measuring 6.4 and 5.8 were registered on Monday evening in the Turkish province of Hatay in the south of the country, the Afad aid organization reported. This region has already been hit by the two February 6 earthquakes that killed more than 41,000 people in Turkey.
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The first shock, the epicenter of which was in the village of Defne, happened at 8:04 p.m. (5:04 p.m. in Paris), according to Afad. It was felt very strongly by AFP teams in Antakya and Adana, 200 km further north. Another 5.8 magnitude earthquake followed three minutes later in Samandag, a coastal city south of Antakya, Afad reported, fearing “a rise in sea levels of up to 50cm”.
“You don’t know what to do”
“We clung to each other and right in front of us the walls started to crumble. It felt like the earth was opening up to swallow us,” an 18-year-old told AFP. “We were with Afad, who is looking for the bodies of our loved ones, when the earthquake surprised us. You don’t know what to do,” he said.
According to Afad, more than 6,000 aftershocks after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake have been recorded for the past two weeks. Turkey’s President on Monday announced the construction of 200,000 homes in the 11 provinces hit by the devastating February 6 earthquake. “None of the buildings will be more than three or four stories high,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan from Hatay province. The earthquakes destroyed or severely damaged more than 118,000 buildings.
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