A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the Turkey-Syria border region, killing at least six people, two weeks after the area was devastated by quakes that killed more than 47,000 people in Türkiye and Syria and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes.
Monday’s quake, this time with a magnitude of 6.4, hit the city of Defne in Hatay province at 8:04 pm and was strongly felt in the regional capital, Antakya, as well as Adana province, 200 km to the north was centred near the southern Turkish city of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon. It struck at a depth of 10 km, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre stated. On Tuesday, AFAD chief Yunus Sezer raised the death toll in Turkey from three to six and reported that 294 people were wounded.
Yaklaşık 5 saat önce, 20.04’te Hatay’da yaşanan 6.4 büyüklüğündeki depremden etkilenen ve tedavilerine hemen başlanan yaralılarımızı Sahra Hastanemizde ziyaret ettik, durumlarını yakından takip ediyoruz. Hastalarımıza ve bölge halkına geçmiş olsun dileklerimizi sunuyoruz. pic.twitter.com/ViAM4mChki
— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) February 20, 2023
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With the very same data, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca shared that 294 people were injured in Monday evening’s earthquake, with 18 seriously hurt and transported to hospitals in Adana and Dortyol. Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that six people were injured in Aleppo by falling debris. The White Helmets, northwest Syria’s civil defence organisation, reported more than 130 injuries, most of them non-life threatening, including fractures and cases of people fainting from fear, while several buildings in areas already damaged by the quake collapsed.
Reports from the Commoners
“We understand that four men had gone into the building to recover some belongings. Authorities had warned not to go into the buildings but nobody expected another earthquake of the magnitude that we’ve seen.” Muna al-Omar, a resident of the locality said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when Monday’s quakes hit.
“I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” she said, crying as she held her seven-year-old son. “Is there going to be another aftershock?”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Message To The People
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Hatay earlier on 20 February, Monday, and spoke with the netizens. He stated that his government would begin constructing close to 200,000 new homes in the quake-devastated region as early as next month. Further, Erdogan said the new buildings will be no taller than three or four stories, built on firmer ground and to higher standards and in consultation with “geophysics, geotechnical, geology and seismology professors” and other experts. The Turkish leader said destroyed cultural monuments would be rebuilt following their “historic and cultural texture.” Erdogan said around 1.6 million people are currently being housed in temporary shelters.
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