New Earthquakes hit Turkish Hatay Province
At 20:04 local Turkish time, two more earthquakes struck the southern Turkish province of Hatay around the town of Defne, registering magnitudes of 6.4 and 5.8. These have come after the Turkish-Syrian border region was hit by two powerful earthquakes on February 6th, which have so far killed over 47,000 people and placed 26 million in need of assistance. Whilst over 6000 aftershocks have been felt since February 6th, the events of this evening are yet again powerful earthquakes. As a result, the same regions devastated by the earlier natural disasters of this month have been affected, with more destruction, potential deaths, and chaos to follow in the next hours and days.
Aljazeera reports that at least three people have been killed and 213 have been wounded, announced by Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu at 20:05 GMT. The Mayor of Hatay has stated that people are currently trapped under rubble. These are people that have only just begun to sleep indoors after the trauma of the earthquakes on February 6th, and so these latest developments will undoubtedly add significant mental strain to an already extraordinarily challenging situation. Antakya, the capital of the Hatay Province, is experiencing panic and chaos; a city already largely devastated and deemed unrecognisable by locals.
According to the BBC, the Syrian White Helmets civil defence group have also declared that people are injured from falling buildings in Aleppo, a city also badly hit by the previous earthquakes. People have also been injured in Jinderis, and according to AP News, some media outlets in the Idlib and Aleppo regions are reporting on more collapsed buildings along with a lack of internet and electricity.
It has been reported that these new earthquakes were felt in many countries in the region, with North-western Syria again deeply affected; tremors have also been felt in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Egypt. As the international community has sent in-kind aid and rescue teams to those in need in both states in recent weeks, these new earthquakes will undoubtedly add to the current unprecedented pressures facing the Turkish and Syrian people. The Turkish government has been heavily criticised for its slow response to the disasters of February 6th, and in Syria’s case, the complex presence of a fractured, depressed state after years of civil war has meant that those needing any kind of humanitarian assistance have faced less support and great uncertainty.