Jakarta –
Turki the south was again rocked by an earthquake, now a magnitude 6.4. The horror of the earthquake has made Turks think the earth will split in two.
“I thought the earth would split under my feet,” said Muna al-Omar, a local resident, told Reuters on Monday (20/2/2023).
When interviewed, Muna cried and held her seven-year-old child. When the earthquake occurred, Muna was in a refugee camp in the center of Antakya City.
It was not only Muna who was afraid, the M 6.4 earthquake reportedly panicked people on the streets.
A convoy of ambulances and rescue teams are trying to reach some of the worst-affected areas.
In that area, the walls of a number of buildings that were badly damaged by the first earthquake on February 6 have collapsed, including a bridge.
Many cracks appeared with deep holes in a number of roads. Making it difficult for emergency services to reach the intended location.
A journalist for the AFP News Agency reported that there was panic in Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, which had been devastated by the previous quake.
Parts of the walls of several buildings also collapsed, AFP reported, and several people who appeared to be injured called for help.
Ali Mazlum, a resident of Antakya, said he was looking for the bodies of family members affected by the previous earthquake when the last one occurred.
“You don’t know what to do… we hugged each other and right in front of us, the wall started to fall. It felt like the earth was splitting open, about to swallow us up,” he said.
In a tweet, Turkey’s disaster and emergency agency, Afad, initially urged people to stay away from the coastline as a precaution against the risk of rising sea levels, although the warning was later removed.
Epicenter and number of victims. Check it out on the next page.
Earthquake Center
Aftershocks on February 20, 2023 that rocked Turkey are located in Hatay, a province on the southern side of Turkey. According to Turkey’s disaster management agency, the epicenter was in the Samandag district of Hatay.
As reported by AFP, Tuesday (21/2/2023), an earthquake occurred in the City of Defne at 20.04 local time. The impact of the aftershocks was felt strongly by AFP teams who were in Antakya City and Adana City which are 200 kilometers (300 miles) to the North.
The strength of this latest earthquake was also reported to be felt in Egypt and Lebanon.
470 Wounded, 3 Killed
Turkey’s disaster and emergency agency, Afad, said there were 32 aftershocks after Monday’s quake, and the largest was a magnitude of 5.8.
Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since the devastating quake on February 6, but the BBC’s team in the region said the latest quake felt much stronger than the previous one.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 470 people had been injured and taken to hospital after the quake. Three people were reported dead after the earthquake.
Watch the video ‘Seconds of Panic in Turkey When Hit by an M 6.4 Earthquake’:
(aik/lir)
