Again Powerful Earthquake In Turkish-Syrian Border Area

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

ISTANBUL (Worthy News) – A powerful earthquake has hit the Turkish-Syrian border area, where people are still recovering from this month’s tremors that killed at least tens of thousands of people, Worthy News monitored.

Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said the magnitude 6.4-earthquake was centered around the town of Defne, in Hatay province, one of the regions hardest-hit by the earlier earthquakes.

The earthquake struck at a depth of 1.2 miles (2 kilometers), the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said, measuring it at 6.3 magnitude. Witnesses said there is new damage to buildings in Antakya, the capital of Turkey’s Hatay province.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said the quake was felt in Israel, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. NTV television said the earthquake caused some damaged buildings to collapse, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties.

Yet the tremor added to anxiety among survivors, with many still hoping and praying that their loved ones would be found beneath the rubble of poorly built homes and apartment blocks.

With the death toll rising, Turkish authorities detained more than 100 building contractors in recent days. Yet questions also remain about how authorities could have allowed the construction of inferior housing in an earthquake zone.

With more destruction feared, Monday’s quake could not have come at a worse moment. Turkish rescue teams run on foot after the latest quake to check on residents. Most people here now live in temporary tents following two powerful earthquakes two weeks ago.

Muna Al Omar, a resident, said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when Monday’s earthquake hit.

“I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” she told reporters, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms. “Is there going to be another aftershock?” she wondered.

The two larger earthquakes that hit on February 6, which also rocked neighboring Syria, left more than a million homeless and killed more than the latest official tally of 46,000 people in both countries, witnesses say.

More minor tremors also shook the region in the last two weeks, but Monday’s quake was the largest since February 6, residents said.

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