A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey’s southern province of Hatay on Monday, days after a February 6 earthquake that killed more than 41,000 people in the country.
Disaster response agency AFAD said the quake struck the city of Daphne at 8:04 pm (1704 GMT) and was felt by AFP teams in Antakya and Adana, 200 kilometers (300 miles) to the north.
One AFP Journalists reported scenes of panic, and said clouds of dust rose over the devastated city from the new tremors. Walls of badly damaged buildings collapsed, while many people, apparently injured, called for help.
According to AFAD, more than 6,000 aftershocks have been recorded since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria.
Turkey shaken by earthquake, panic like Syria
The new earthquake comes two weeks after the country’s deadliest earthquake in modern history caused panic and further damage to buildings, killing thousands.
Two Reuters journalists said the tremors were strong and long-lasting, damaging buildings and sending dust into the night air in the central city of Antakya, where it was centered. It was also felt in Egypt and Lebanon, reuters the reporters said.
Muna al Omar, a resident, said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the quake struck.
“I felt the earth explode from under my feet,” she said, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.
41,000 killed in Turkey earthquake on February 6
Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would build around 200,000 new homes in the southeast region of the country. This tragedy has left lakhs of people homeless.
Erdogan said that around 118,000 buildings had either collapsed, required immediate demolition or were severely damaged by the earthquake.
He announced that reconstruction work would begin in March to build 199,739 houses, including more than 130,000 in the affected Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Malatya provinces. “None of these buildings will be more than three or four storeys high,” he promised as the quake toppled several high-rise blocks of flats.
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Turkey to build 200,000 new homes away from fault lines
The president said that the new houses would be built away from the fault line “closer to the mountains”, which would “protect against the problems caused by the soft soil”.
“We will start moving our citizens living in tents and container cities to their strong, safe and comfortable homes within a year,” Erdogan said.
According to Erdogan, speaking after visiting affected areas in Hatay province, the state was providing shelter to some 1.6 million people in the region.
Erdogan said that rescue workers have rescued 114,834 people from the rubble. Search and rescue efforts have ended in nine provinces, but continued in Hatay and Kahramanmaras as of Sunday.
“We will build a new Antakya, Iskenderun, Arsuz,” the president said, referring to the towns and cities in Hatay affected by the earthquake.
Once home to countless civilizations, the city of Antakya has been reduced to ruins after an earthquake, with centuries-old mosques and churches destroyed.
Rescue operation except two provinces
Rescue efforts had ended after the earthquake in all but two provinces in Turkey.
Yunus Sezer, head of Turkey’s disaster agency, said on Sunday that the epicenter had been moved and search and rescue efforts had been completed in all provinces except Kahramanmaras.
(With inputs from Reuters, AFP)
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