By Turkish Minute
A magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit the southern Turkish province of Hatay on Monday evening, two weeks after the city was struck by two powerful earthquakes in southeast Turkey, the NTV news website reported.
Hatay was among the 11 provinces hit hardest by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in the early morning hours of Feb. 6 and later a magnitude-7.5 quake the same day that have claimed the lives of at least 45,000 people in Turkey and parts of Syria.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) announced that the epicenter of the most recent earthquake was Hatay’s Defne district.
The 6.4-magnitude earthquake, which struck at 8:04 pm (1704 GMT), was followed by several aftershocks including one measuring 5.8.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced that at least three people were killed and 213 injured after the earthquake in Hatay since some buildings that were already damaged in the previous earthquakes had collapsed.
News reports said some people had to stay in their damaged homes because there weren’t enough tents for them outside.
Professor Okan Tüysüz, a geologist from İstanbul Technical University, told NTV that Monday’s earthquake in Hatay was triggered by the Feb. 6 earthquakes but was separate and not an aftershock.
Video footage showed people running in panic as well as search and rescue teams and ambulances in the streets.
Seismologists have been warning for a while that the Feb. 6 earthquakes could trigger other temblors in the region, asking people to stay away from damaged buildings.
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