New Turkey earthquake leaves people trapped under rubble in Hatay

[Nat Quinn]

Mon 20 February 2023:

After being devastated earlier this month by temblors that killed tens of thousands of people, a shallow magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck the Turkey-Syria border region.

The depth of Monday’s aftershock in Turkey’s Hatay province was 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

The quake struck the town of Defne at 8:04 p.m. (17:04 GMT) and was felt strongly in Antakya and Adana, 200 kilometers (300 miles) to the north.

A second magnitude 5.8 centered in Samandag district of Hatay shook the region several minutes later, Turkey’s emergency management agency said.

Witnesses said Turkish rescue teams were running around after the latest quakes, checking if people were unharmed.

Muna al-Omar, a resident, said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the earthquake hit.

“I thought the Earth was going to split open under my feet,” she said, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms. “Is there going to be another aftershock?” she asked.

Magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 earthquakes struck Turkey’s southeast and neighbouring Syria on February 6, killing nearly 47,000 people and leaving more than a million people homeless along with an economic cost expected to run into tens of billions of dollars.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

 

 

[Author]

Posts