AFTERSHOCK TOLL RISES; HUNDREDS MORE HURT
Survivors of the earthquake that jolted Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless, dealt with more trauma and loss Tuesday after another deadly quake and aftershocks rocked the region.
The 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Monday evening had its epicenter in the Defne district of Turkey’s Hatay province, which was one of the areas worst affected by the Feb. 6 magnitude 7.8 quake that killed nearly 46,000 people in the two countries.
Turkey’s disaster management authority, AFAD, said the new quake killed six people and injured 294 others, including 18 who were in critical condition. In Syria, a woman and a girl died as a result of panic during the earthquake in the provinces of Hama and Tartus, progovernment media said.
Monday’s quake was felt in Jordan, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt. A magnitude 5.8 quake followed, along with dozens of aftershocks. The White Helmets, northwest Syria’s civil defense organization, said about 190 people suffered injuries in rebel-held areas and that several flimsy buildings collapsed but there were no reports of anyone trapped under the debris.
Turkish officials warned residents not to go into the remains of their homes, but people have done so to retrieve what they can. Three of the people killed Monday were inside a damaged fourstory building when the new quake hit.
Aftershocks and the instability of the structure complicated the rescue effort, and it took several hours for search crews to find the bodies, Turkish news agency DHA said.