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Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Three dead, hundreds injured after magnitude-6.4 earthquake strikes already devastated Türkiye-Syria border region


ABC:

Three dead, hundreds injured after magnitude-6.4 earthquake strikes already devastated Türkiye-Syria border region



Southern Türkiye rocked by magnitude-6.4 earthquake.


Another earthquake has struck the border region of Türkiye and Syria, just two weeks after the area was devastated by a larger quake that killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes.


Key points:

  • Search and rescue efforts were underway in three collapsed buildings where a total of five people were believed trapped
  • NTV television said the latest quake caused some damaged buildings to collapse
  • The latest quake was also felt in Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has said three people were killed and 213 injured.

The magnitude -6.4 quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

Search and rescue efforts were underway in three collapsed buildings, where a total of five people were believed trapped.

Türkiye's disaster management agency, AFAD, said the latest magnitude-6.4 quake was centred around the town of Defne.

The quake was felt in Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt. The magnitude-7.8 earthquake which struck on February 6 has killed nearly 45,000 people in Türkiye and Syria.



The moment when another earthquake struck Hatay, Türkiye.


It was followed by a second, magnitude-5.8 tremor. Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since the area's initial quake.

In Hatay, police search teams rescued one person who was trapped inside a three-story building and were trying to reach three others inside, HaberTurk television reported.

HaberTurk journalists reporting from Hatay said they were jolted violently by Monday's quake and held onto each other to avoid falling.


'No-one wants to get back into their houses'


Türkiye's disaster management agency, AFAD, says the latest major quake was centred around the town of Defne, in Hatay province.(Reuters: Eloisa Lopez)


'40 seconds of sheer terror'

ABC reporter Allyson Horn was in her hotel room in Adana, Türkiye, when the quake struck.

"I could feel the building shaking violently and swaying from side to side," she said.

She threw herself under a desk.

"Outside my room, people were running down the corridor trying to get to the stairwell, to escape the building," she said.

"Then the power went out.

"All I could hear was people outside crying and screaming.

"It was 40 seconds of sheer terror."

There are confronting scenes outside.

"We've just been at a building in Adana where several balconies have collapsed, threatening to bring the whole building down.

"People from around there are now sleeping in their cars.

"We’ve seen them carrying blankets and pillows up the streets, the anxiety on their faces, not knowing when, or if they’ll ever be allowed safely back into their homes.

"People have laid blankets on the ground and are sitting around in small circles, around fires, to keep warm."

In the Turkish city of Adana, eyewitness Alejandro Malaver said people left homes for the streets, carrying blankets into their cars.

Mr Malaver said everyone is really scared and that "no one wants to get back into their houses".

Lutfu Savas, the mayor for Hatay said a number of buildings have collapsed following the new earthquake, trapping people inside.

Mr Savas said those trapped are believed to be people who had either returned to homes or were trying move furniture from damaged homes.


A man sits outside after an earthquake in Antakya in Hatay province, Turkey, February 20, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne (Reuters: Clodagh Kilcoyne )


The Syrian American Medical Society, which runs hospitals in northern Syria, said it had treated a number of patients — including a seven-year-old boy — who suffered heart attacks brought on by fear following the earthquake.

Meanwhile, the Syrian opposition's Syrian Civil Defence — also known as the White Helmets — reported that several people were injured in Syria's rebel-held north-west after they jumped from buildings or when they were struck by falling debris in the town of Jinderis, one of the towns worst affected by the February 6 earthquake.

In the Syrian city of Idlib, frightened residents were preparing to sleep in parks and other public places, while fuel lines formed at gas stations as people attempted to get as far away as possible from any buildings that might collapse.


Millions in temporary shelters


Latest earthquake in comparison to the previous two that hit Türkiye and Syria.


Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Hatay earlier on Monday, saying his government would begin constructing close to 200,000 new homes in the quake-devastated region as early as next month.

Mr Erdoğan said the new buildings would be no taller than three or four stories, built on firmer ground and to higher standards and in consultation with "geophysics, geotechnical, geology and seismology professors" and other experts.

The Turkish leader said destroyed cultural monuments would be rebuilt in accordance with their "historic and cultural texture".

Mr Erdoğan said around 1.6 million people were being housed in temporary shelters.


Women survivors in urgent need of accessible health services


Many women are sheltering in camps or exposed to freezing temperatures and struggling to get food or clean water.(Reuters: Eloisa Lopez)


On Monday, the Turkish disaster management agency AFAD raised the number of confirmed fatalities from the February 6 earthquake in Türkiye to 41,156. That increases the overall death toll in both Türkiye and Syria to 44,844.

Total humanitarian assistance to support the earthquake response in Türkiye and Syria from the United States has reached $US185 million ($267 million), according to the US State Department.

Among the survivors of the earthquakes are about 356,000 pregnant women who urgently need access to health services, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency has said.

They include 226,000 women in Türkiye and 130,000 in Syria, about 38,800 of whom will deliver in the next month. Many of them were sheltering in camps or exposed to freezing temperatures and struggling to get food or clean water.


Many fled their destroyed homes in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Antakya, Hatay.(Reuters: Eloisa Lopez)


In Syria, already shattered by more than a decade of civil war, most deaths have been in the north-west, where the United Nations said 4,525 people were killed.

Syrian officials said 1,414 people were killed in areas under the control of Syrian President Assad's government.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said a convoy of 14 of its trucks had entered north-western Syria from Türkiye on Sunday to assist in rescue operations.

The World Food Programme has also been pressuring authorities in that region to stop blocking access for aid from Syrian government-controlled areas.

As of Monday morning, local time, 197 trucks loaded with UN humanitarian aid had entered north-west Syria through two border crossings, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed.


Australian rescuer 'can't compare' devastation in Türkiye to 'anything'


Already devastated regions have been struck again by an earthquake.

As part of the International aid response, an Australian search-and-rescue team, headed by Grant Rice, has been doing everything they can to help.

Mr Rice told ABC Radio his team hasn't found any survivors but has been a crucial part of recovering bodies.

"We haven't gotten anyone alive out of out of any predicaments, but we have helped with a lot of people repatriate their loved ones back to their family members and things like that," he said.

Mr Rice said he had never seen devastation like what he and his team have encountered.

"I can't compare it to anything, because the amount of destruction throughout the city where we are [in] at the moment is unbelievable," he said.


Winter conditions, often in the negative temperatures, have made the rescue efforts more challenging than usual, but Mr Rice said his team was a "little bit spoiled".

"The people that were displaced — that's who you've got to really think about," he said.

"We're sleeping in tents, we have some good equipment.

"If it's cold, we just have to get through it. We are doing a lot better than the local people are."

When the latest magnitude-6.4 quake hit, Mr Rice and his team were loading equipment.

"Your first thoughts did go out to the locals again," he said.

"Hopefully, there was no one in buildings or anything like that, because most of them are empty at this stage."

Mr Rice and his team are set to depart Türkiye on Wednesday.


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