Parts of Turkey and Syria that were devastated two weeks ago by a major earthquake that killed almost 45,000 people have been rocked by a second 6.4 magnitude earthquake.
When other structures fell, trapping residents, and several people were hurt in both nations, officials announced that three individuals had been confirmed dead as a result of today’s earthquake.
The village of Defne in Turkey’s Hatay province, one of the hardest-hit areas of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck on February 6, served as the epicenter of the earthquake that struck today.
It was followed by a second earthquake of magnitude 5.8 that was felt as far away as Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Israel.
The fresh earthquake caused a number of buildings to collapse, trapping people inside, according to Hatay’s mayor Lutfu Savas.
When the most recent earthquake struck, Muna Al Omar claimed to be in a tent in a park in the heart of Antakya.
While sobbing and clutching her 7-year-old son in her arms, she remarked, “I felt the ground was going to break up beneath my feet.”
In downtown Antakya, which was struck by two significant earthquakes two weeks earlier, killing tens of thousands of lives and demolishing buildings and infrastructure, two witnesses reported a severe quake and more damage to structures.
Some witnesses reported seeing Turkish rescue crews scurrying around after the most recent earthquake to make sure no one was hurt.
Several Syrian refugees living in Turkey have made their way back to their homes in northwest Syria to contact family members who have been impacted by the destruction.
Hundreds of Syrians queued up to cross the border at the Turkish Cilvegozu border crossing from the early hours of today.
Some 350 people were waiting, according to Mustafa Hannan, who dropped off his pregnant wife and 3-year-old kid.
When his Antakya house fell, the 27-year-old auto electrician claimed his family was going for a few months, taking advantage of a promise by authorities to let them stay up to six months in Syria without losing the possibility to return to Turkey.
He added, “I’m scared they won’t be permitted back.” “We’ve already been cut off from our country.” Are our families going to be split apart now too? My life will be gone if I rebuild here and they are unable to come back.
Life will never be the same again, according to Turkan Akbas, a 40-year-old lawyer from Hackney in Greater London and spokesman for the British Turkish Association in Luton.
With the earthquake on February 6, Ms. Akbas said she lost family members, including her cousin and her cousin’s five-year-old triplets.
After hearing of today’s earthquake, she said, “I am saddened.” “I simply worry about everyone at home,” you could say.
Life will never be the same again because I have lost too many dear ones, and it makes me sad to see Turkey in this position. Yet, we will get through this with the help of the whole world, which has joined together to support us.
In addition to gathering money to purchase container homes for families who have lost their homes, Ms. Akbas said that the BTA will continue to deliver help, including tents, blankets, baby food, and sanitary items.
Three fatalities and 213 injuries have been been reported after today’s 6.4-magnitude earthquake and its 5.8-magnitude aftershock, she added, adding that these numbers are anticipated to climb.
The earthquake was felt across the nation, but Hatay was the most hit.
A search, rescue, and medical team, as well as medical supplies, have been deployed to Turkey by the BTA charity Save1Life to help the local disaster and emergency management authority, AFAD.
After being deployed for a week, they have returned to the UK.
The BTA is now working to generate money to buy container homes for those who lost their homes and are currently living in harsh weather conditions in the earthquake-affected areas.
The current situation, according to Tom Colley, a member of HelpAge International’s humanitarian response team in Gaziantep, is “extremely disturbing.”
When the earthquake hit, Mr. Colley was at a conference, and it was suggested that he remain in his hotel.
People are running out of the buildings in great terror, the man said.
Several people’s lives are still in danger as a result of the earthquake a fortnight ago. This is quite upsetting.
The violent quakes two weeks ago left more than 21,000 people reported dead in the southeastern province, accounting for about half of the total death toll of 46,000 people, according to the mayor of Hatay, who spoke yesterday.
Another 24,000 individuals had been hurt, according to Lutfu Savas, who spoke to local TV HaberTurk, and improvised medical facilities were severely overburdened.
At Antakya, Savas emphasized that “at least 80% of the structures must be removed.” The ancient city of Antioch formerly stood on the current location of Antakya, the capital of Hatay.
According to Yunus Sezer, director of AFAD, the country’s disaster agency, the total number of fatalities attributable to the earthquake in Turkey has risen to 40,689 so far. Over 6,000 additional people perished in Syria, which is across the border.
In order to avoid more fatalities, Sezer informed media in the Turkish capital Ankara that the search and rescue operations have come to a stop in nine of the earthquake’s affected regions.
Earlier today, as rescue efforts following the earthquake and its aftershocks on February 6 were coming to an end and attention shifted to the urgent need for shelter and reconstruction work, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Turkey that Washington would assist “for as long as it takes.”
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority AFAD reported on Monday that the death toll from the quakes two weeks ago had increased to 41,156, and that it was likely to rise further given that 385,000 apartments were either completely destroyed or severely damaged, and that many people were still unaccounted for.
Construction on roughly 200,000 apartments in 11 earthquake-stricken areas of Turkey will start next month, according to President Tayyip Erdogan.
According to the U.S. State Department, $185 million has been allocated in total by the United States for humanitarian relief to help the earthquake response in Turkey and Syria.
According to the U.N. agency for sexual and reproductive health (UNFPA), 356,000 pregnant women who are survivors of the earthquakes urgently require access to medical care.
These include 130,000 women in Syria and 226,000 women in Turkey, with roughly 38,800 of them due to give birth in the next month. Many of them were battling for food and water while living in camps or outside in the bitter cold.
The majority of casualties in Syria, a country already wrecked by more than ten years of civil conflict, have occurred in the northwest, according to the UN, where 4,525 people were murdered. Aid attempts are complicated since militants in the region are at conflict with soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
According to Syrian sources, 1,414 individuals died in regions that are under Assad’s control.
Rescue efforts are still going on in Hatay and the epicentre, Kahramanmaras. We keep making these attempts every day in the hopes of connecting with a brother or sister who is still alive, he said.
Nevertheless, since three members of one family — a mother, father, and 12-year-old kid — were pulled from a collapsed building in Hatay on Saturday, there have been no indications that anybody else has been found alive. Later on, the kid passed away.
The U.N. has said that it may take some time to assess the exact extent of the killings, but the death toll already stands at more over 46,000 in both Turkey and Syria.
Together with his Turkish colleague Mevlut Cavusoglu, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to southern Turkey early this morning and began a tour of the earthquake disaster area, stopping in Hatay.
Blinken will visit a tent city set up in Hatay for individuals who were affected by the earthquake before inspecting an assistance distribution center. This will be his first visit to NATO partner Turkey since he assumed office two years ago.
The senior American diplomat will also review US relief operations and interact with the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team, a rapid response team of disaster specialists.
He will take a flight to Ankara later on Sunday in order to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday and have talks with Turkish authorities.
According to the Environment and Urbanization Ministry of Turkey, 105,794 of the structures it inspected have either been completely destroyed or have sustained damage that calls for their destruction.
The statement said that 20,662 of these had collapsed. More than 384,500 units were among the damaged or destroyed structures, the majority of which were flats for homes.
Turkey has several fault lines, thus infrastructure regulations require that many buildings be reinforced and built in accordance with stringent construction rules.
More than $1 billion has been spent in the fourteen years after the 1999 earthquake on upgrading buildings to ensure that they meet the criteria, although much of that work was done in and around Istanbul and Ankara, the two major cities in the north.
However, a lack of oversight and a gap in government policy that allows builders and developers found to have fallen short of standards to pay fines rather than being forced to improve their buildings mean that thousands of people likely died as a result of subpar building practices in the southern provinces devastated by last week’s earthquakes.
The head of the Turkish Chamber of Architects, Eyup Muhcu, said that it was “common knowledge” that many structures, including contemporary residences constructed after earthquake-resistant construction rules were introduced, were subpar.
According to Muhcu, Turkey’s government effectively legalized dangerous structures by enabling developers to pay penalties rather than redo their poor work.
The 11 provinces that make up the disaster zone designated by the government were struck by 6,040 aftershocks, according to Turkey’s disaster administration.
An further 7.5 magnitude tremor occurred nine hours after the main 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
40 aftershocks, according to AFAD agency general manager Orhan Tatar, were between magnitudes 5 and 6, while one was registered at 6.6.
During a televised press conference in Ankara, he stressed the need of staying away from damaged structures and refraining from entering them.
He also foresaw “secondary calamities” like rockfalls and landslides.
Humanitarian aid in Syria is running low two weeks after the most recent earthquake, and the tragedy is still very real. The danger posed by explosive remnants of war (ERW), the result of a 12-year conflict and ongoing bombardment in the area to the northwest, hangs over aid workers and a population that has already reached its breaking point.
Every area of Syria is highly littered with landmines, ERW, and improvised explosive devices, especially in the northwest, where the earthquake was felt most strongly.
A magnitude 7 earthquake has energy comparable to the five megatons of H-bomb energy. The two earthquakes that occurred on February 6th are likely to have set off a significant quantity of unexploded ordnance, reducing the overall potential hazard from ERW in the area.
Yet, some of the landmines and ERW may have been dislodged by the earthquakes; this is especially true in the wreckage that locals are still digging through with their hands.
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