Powerful new earthquake hits Turkey, trapping several under rubble

A powerful earthquake measuring 6.4 struck Turkey’s Hatay province on Monday evening at 7:04 pm local time. People are feared dead or injured in the province, which was one of the hardest hit by the major earthquakes just two weeks ago. 

Turkey’s death toll from Feb. 6 earthquakes stands at 41,156 people, according to official figures, more than 20,000 of them in Hatay.

Following the new earthquake, Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said eight people were taken to hospitals, adding that there have been 28 reports of newly collapsed buildings.  

Hatay Mayor Lutfu Savas said the quake led to the collapse of several buildings. 

“We are receiving reports that there are people trapped under the rubble of these buildings,” Savas told HaberTurk television, adding that several movers had been working at those collapsed buildings at the time of the earthquakes.

Ibrahim Guzel is the mayor of Defne, the epicenter of the new quake. He said almost half of the buildings in the town of 166,000 collapsed in Monday’s quake. He urged for immediate aid to be dispatched to the town.

Emergency teams are feared to be trapped under the rubble as search and rescue work is still going on in Hatay. Video footage shows ambulances and rescuers rushing into the sites where structures are feared to have collapsed. Luckily, most of the collapsed buildings are believed to have been empty, as tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their houses after Feb. 6 quakes.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported that emergency teams have been conducting checks in newly collapsed buildings in central Hatay to see if anyone was trapped under the debris. 

Turkey’s disaster management agency announced the 6.4-magnitude quake struck close to Hatay’s center. Several aftershocks hit the same area, one measuring 5.8. Turkish news outlets reported that the local hospital in Hatay is being evacuated.

The agency briefly issued a tsunami watch in Turkey’s coastal towns. Local authorities in Turkey’s Mediterranean province of Antalya, some 750 kilometers (470 miles) west of Hatay, called on people to stay clear of the coast.

People in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq felt the trembling. The earthquake was felt in other provinces affected by the Feb. 6 twin quakes. Many residents left their houses and are now afraid to return.