Two weeks after a larger quake that killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, CNN Turk reported on Tuesday that an earthquake that struck the border region of Turkey and Syria killed six people.
The 6.4-magnitude quake on Monday was felt in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. It was centered near the southern Turkish city of Antakya. According to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), it struck at a depth of 10 kilometers.
CNN Turk showed a rescue team ascending a ladder into one building where the most recent earthquake had trapped people. According to the report, the quake occurred as people attempted to salvage their belongings from the already damaged building before it was demolished.
According to Turkish health minister Fahrettin Koca, the earthquake on Monday evening left 294 people injured, 18 of whom were seriously injured and transported to Adana and Dortyol hospitals.
Following the tremors two weeks ago, patients were evacuated from some health facilities that continued to operate due to building cracks, Koca stated on Twitter.
More buildings collapsed in Samandag, where the country's disaster and emergency management authority reported one fatality on Monday, but the majority of the town had already fled after the initial earthquakes. The dark, deserted streets were lined with piles of garbage and broken furniture.
According to Muna Al Omar, the ground began to heave once more while she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya. She wept as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms on Monday. "I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet."
During 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 efforts for victims of the February 6 earthquake and its aftershocks slowed and turned to building shelters and reconstruction.
Turkey's death toll from the earthquakes two weeks ago was 41,156, and it was anticipated that it would rise even higher. It is known that 385,000 apartments were destroyed or severely damaged, and many people are still missing.
According to President Tayyip Erdogan, the construction of nearly 200,000 apartments in 11 of Turkey's stricken provinces will begin next month.
According to the US state department, the total amount of humanitarian aid provided by the US to Turkey and Syria in response to the earthquake has reached $185 million.
According to the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health, approximately 356,000 pregnant women are among the earthquake survivors and require immediate access to medical care. They include approximately 38,800 women who will give birth within the next month, including 226,000 women in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria. Many of them were struggling to get food or clean water and were sheltering in camps or outside in freezing temperatures.
Aid for Syria In a country that has already been devastated by more than a decade of civil war, the majority of deaths have occurred in the northwest, with 4,525 reported by the United Nations. Aid efforts are hampered by the fact that the region is ruled by insurgents at war with President Bashar al-Assad's supporters.
According to Syrian officials, 1,414 people were killed in Assad's control areas.
According to the humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a group of 14 of its trucks entered northwestern Syria on Sunday from Turkey to assist with rescue efforts. Additionally, the World Food Program has been putting pressure on authorities in that region to stop preventing aid from reaching areas controlled by the Syrian government.
According to a UN spokesperson, 197 trucks carrying UN humanitarian aid had crossed two border crossings into northwest Syria by Monday morning.
In order to get in touch with relatives who have been affected by the destruction, thousands of Syrian refugees living in Turkey have returned to their homes in northwest Syria. Beginning early on Monday, hundreds of Syrians lined up to cross the border at the Turkish Cilvegozu crossing.
Mustafa Hannan, who dropped off his pregnant spouse and 3-year-old child, said he saw around 350 individuals pausing. After their Antakya home collapsed, the 27-year-old car electrician announced that his family would leave for a few months, fulfilling the promise made by authorities that they would be able to spend up to six months in Syria without losing the opportunity to return to Turkey.
He stated, "I'm worried they won't be allowed back." We have already been cut off from our country. Are we also going to be cut off from our families at this point? My life will be lost if I rebuild here but they cannot return.
Reuters
