ANTAKYA, Turkey (Reuters) – Authorities reported on Tuesday that six people were killed in the latest earthquake to strike the border region of Turkey and Syria, two weeks after a larger one killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes.
The 6.4 magnitude quake on Monday was centered near the southern Turkish city of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon.
According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, there were 90 aftershocks. Overnight, 6,000 tents were delivered to the area for residents concerned about the new quake.
The Hatay provincial governor’s building, which had already been damaged in the Feb. 6 quakes, collapsed in the latest tremor, according to television footage.
According to Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, 294 people were injured, with 18 critically injured and transported to hospitals in Adana and Dortyol.
REUTERS
Patients were evacuated from some health facilities that had remained open following the massive tremors two weeks ago, according to Koca on Twitter.
Residents in Samandag, where AFAD reported one person dead on Monday, said more buildings had collapsed, but that the majority of the town had already fled following the initial earthquakes. The streets were littered with debris and discarded furniture.
Muna Al Omar said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the ground began to tremble once more.
“I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” she sobbed as she held her 7-year-old son on Monday.
HELP FROM THE U.S.
On a visit to Turkey on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington would assist “for as long as it takes” as rescue operations in the aftermath of the Feb. 6 earthquake wound down and the focus shifted to shelter and reconstruction work.
The death toll from the Feb. 6 earthquakes in Turkey has risen to 41,156, according to AFAD, and is expected to rise further, with 385,000 apartments known to have been destroyed or severely damaged and many people still missing.
Construction on nearly 200,000 apartments in 11 Turkish provinces will begin next month, according to President Tayyip Erdogan.
According to the US State Department, total US humanitarian assistance for the earthquake response in Turkey and Syria has reached $185 million.
According to the United Nations’ sexual and reproductive health agency, there are approximately 226,000 pregnant women in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria who require immediate access to health services.
Around 39,000 babies are due to be born in the next month, and many are being housed in camps or exposed to freezing temperatures, struggling to find food and clean water.
AID TO SYRIA
In Syria, which has already been shattered by more than a decade of civil war, the majority of deaths have occurred in the northwest, where the United Nations reported 4,525 deaths. Insurgents fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad control the area, complicating aid efforts.
According to Syrian officials, 1,414 people were killed in government-controlled areas.
Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Sunday that a convoy of 14 of its trucks had entered northwestern Syria from Turkey to assist in rescue operations.
The World Food Program has also pressed authorities in that region to stop preventing aid from reaching Syrian government-controlled areas.
According to a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 197 trucks carrying UN humanitarian aid had entered northwest Syria through two border crossings as of Monday morning.
Thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey have returned to their homes in northwest Syria to communicate with relatives who have been affected by the disaster.
Hundreds of Syrians queued to cross the Turkish border at Cilvegozu beginning early Monday.
Mustafa Hannan, who arrived with his pregnant wife and 3-year-old son, estimated that 350 people were waiting.
The 27-year-old car electrician said his family was leaving for a few months after their home in Antakya collapsed, taking advantage of a government pledge to allow them to stay in Syria for up to six months without losing the right to return to Turkey.
“I’m concerned they won’t be allowed to return,” he said. “We’ve already been cut off from our homeland. Will we be separated from our families as well? My life will be lost if I rebuild here but they are unable to return.”
»six people have been confirmed dead in another horrific earthquake in Turkey«