The first 6.4 magnitude tremor sparked panic among residents of the already devastated town of Defne in Turkey’s Hatay province. After the quake in the evening, AFP reporters on site reported that the injured screamed for help. The new tremors would have triggered dust clouds over the city in southern Turkey.
The earthquake was also clearly felt in other cities affected by the earthquake disaster two weeks ago, such as Antakya and Adana, around 200 kilometers to the north. Even in Lebanon, AFP teams felt the tremors.
Just three minutes after the first tremor, a 5.8 magnitude tremor shook Samandag, a Turkish coastal town further south. At least two more earthquakes of magnitude 5.2 followed later, as announced by the Turkish civil protection Afad.
The hospital in the port city of Iskenderun and the Mustafa Kemal University Hospital in Antakya were evacuated as a precaution, the DHA news agency reported. Intensive care patients were taken to a rural hospital. The Afad situation center was also evacuated. There was a temporary flood warning.
During a visit to Hatay province, Erdogan announced the construction of 200,000 apartments in the 11 provinces hit by the February 6 earthquake disaster. “No building will be higher than three or four floors,” he said. Construction should start in March.
According to Erdogan, all new buildings should be built in earthquake-proof areas. “In a year we will start relocating our citizens living in tent and container villages,” promised Erdogan, who spoke publicly for the first time in six days.
According to the Turkish civil protection agency Afad, there have been more than 6,200 aftershocks since the tremor two weeks ago.
The earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border area on February 6, which had a magnitude of 7.8, killed around 45,000 people in both countries. Thousands of people are still missing in Turkey and Syria.
