ANTAKYA, Turkey – A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck southern Turkey close to the Syrian border late on Monday, setting off panic and additional damaging buildings two weeks after the nation’s worst earthquake in fashionable historical past left tens of hundreds lifeless.
Two Reuters reporters mentioned the tremors have been robust and lasting, damaging buildings and leaving mud within the night time air in central Antakya metropolis, the place it was centered. It was additionally felt in Egypt and Lebanon, Reuters reporters mentioned.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) mentioned the tremor struck at a shallow depth of two km (1.2 miles).
Police patrolled Antakya whereas ambulances rushed to the quake-hit space close to town middle. Two folks fainted, whereas others stuffed the streets across the central park making emergency calls on cell telephones.
Reuters noticed Turkish rescue groups working round on foot after the most recent quake to examine on residents, most of whom have been dwelling in non permanent tents after the tremors two weeks in the past.
Muna Al Omar, a resident, mentioned she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the earthquake hit.
“I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” she mentioned, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.
“Is there going to be another aftershock?” she requested.
The two bigger earthquakes that hit on Feb. 6, which additionally rocked neighboring Syria, left greater than one million homeless and killed way over the most recent official tally of 46,000 folks in each nations.
Smaller tremors have jolted the area within the final two weeks however the Monday quake was the most important since Feb. 6.
“It was very strong. It jolted us out of our places,” mentioned Burhan Abdelrahman, who was strolling out of his tent in a camp in Antakya metropolis centre when the earthquake struck.
“I called relatives in Syria, Adana, Mersin, Izmir, everywhere, to check on them.”
Turkey’s catastrophe company AFAD urged residents to avoid the Mediterranean coast over a potential 50-centimetre rise in waters because of the quake.
Videos posted on social media, unverified by Reuters, confirmed passengers at Antakya airport taking cowl in panic because the quake jolted the glass constructing. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
