A new earthquake strikes the Turkish-Syrian border two weeks after the disaster

ANTIAKYA, Turkey (February 20) (Reuters) – Another earthquake hit the border region between Turkey and Syria on Monday, just two weeks after a larger quake devastated the area, killing more than 47,000 people and damaging or destroying hundreds of thousands of homes. .

The epicenter of Monday’s earthquake, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, was near the city of Antakya in southern Turkey and was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center said the missile struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

Hatay Mayor Luto Savas told Haberturk that he had received reports of some people stuck under rubble after the latest earthquake. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said three people were killed and more than 200 wounded.

In Samandag, where the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority reported one death, residents said more buildings collapsed but most of the city had already fled after the initial quakes. Piles of debris and discarded furniture lined the dark, deserted streets.

Muna al-Omar said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the ground began to rise again.

“I thought the ground would open up under my feet,” she said, sobbing as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.

Hours earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on a visit to Turkey that Washington would help “as long as it takes” as rescue operations approached in the wake of the February 6 earthquake and aftershocks, and the focus shifted toward urgent shelter and reconstruction work.

The disaster and emergency management said today, Monday, that the death toll from the earthquakes two weeks ago rose to 41,156 in Turkey, and is expected to rise further, as 385,000 apartments are known to have been destroyed or severely damaged and many people are still missing.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that construction work for about 200,000 apartments in 11 quake-hit provinces in Turkey will begin next month.

The US State Department said that the total US humanitarian aid to support the earthquake response in Turkey and Syria has reached $185 million.

The United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency said that among the earthquake survivors, some 356,000 pregnant women were in urgent need of access to health services.

Among them are 226,000 women in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria, of whom 38,800 will give birth in the next month. Many were sheltering in camps or exposed to freezing temperatures and struggling to get food or clean water.

Syrian aid

And in Syria, already wracked by civil war for more than a decade, most of the deaths occurred in the northwest, where the United Nations said 4,525 people were killed. The area is controlled by militants at war with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, complicating relief efforts.

Syrian officials say 1,414 people have been killed in areas under the control of the Assad government.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said a convoy of 14 of its trucks entered northwest Syria from Turkey on Sunday to help with rescue operations.

The World Food Program is also pressuring the authorities in that area to stop blocking aid from areas controlled by the Syrian government.

A spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 197 trucks loaded with United Nations humanitarian aid entered northwest Syria as of Monday morning through two border crossings.

Thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey have returned to their homes in northwest Syria to connect with relatives affected by the destruction.

At the Turkish border crossing of Silvigozu, hundreds of Syrians lined up starting early Monday morning to cross.

Mostafa Hanan, who dropped off his pregnant wife and 3-year-old son, said he saw about 350 people waiting.

The 27-year-old auto electrician said his family had been leaving for a few months after their home in Antakya collapsed, after he was given a pledge by the authorities to allow them to spend up to six months in Syria without losing the chance to return to Turkey.

“I’m worried they won’t be allowed back,” he said. “We are already separated from our nation. Are we going to be separated from our families now too? If I rebuild here but they can’t come back, my life will be wasted.”

(Reporting by Ali Kucukjokmen and Henriette Chakar) Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Hussein Hayatsifer and Izgi Erkoyon in Turkey and Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Writing by Michael Georgy, Dominic Evans, and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Alex Richardson, Alexander Smith, Allison Williams and Lisa Shumaker

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