Recent quake hits Turkey-Syria border space two weeks after catastrophe By Reuters

By Ali Kucukgocmen

ANTAKYA, Turkey (Reuters) -One other earthquake struck the border area of Turkey and Syria on Monday, simply two weeks after the realm was devastated by a bigger quake which killed greater than 47,000 individuals and broken or destroyed a whole bunch of 1000’s of properties.

Monday’s quake, this time with a magnitude of 6.3, was centred close to the southern Turkish metropolis of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.

It struck at a depth of simply 2 km (1.2 miles), the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) stated, doubtlessly magnifying its impression at floor degree.

Hatay Mayor Lutfu Savas advised HaberTurk broadcaster that he had acquired reviews about some individuals caught underneath rubble after the most recent quake. Vice President Fuat Oktay stated not less than eight individuals have been injured.

Muna Al Omar stated she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the bottom began heaving once more.

“I assumed the earth was going to separate open underneath my ft,” she stated, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.

Hours earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on a go to to Turkey that Washington would assist “for so long as it takes” as rescue operations within the wake of the Feb. 6 earthquake and its aftershocks have been winding down, and focus turned to in the direction of pressing shelter and reconstruction work.

The loss of life toll from the quakes two weeks in the past rose to 41,156 in Turkey, the nation’s Catastrophe and Emergency Administration Authority AFAD stated on Monday, and it was anticipated to climb additional, with 385,000 residences recognized to have been destroyed or critically broken and many individuals nonetheless lacking.

President Tayyip Erdogan stated development work on practically 200,000 residences in 11 earthquake-hit provinces of Turkey would start subsequent month.

Complete U.S. humanitarian help to help the earthquake response in Turkey and Syria has reached $185 million, the U.S. State Division stated.

Among the many survivors of the earthquakes are about 356,000 pregnant girls who urgently want entry to well being providers, the U.N. sexual and reproductive well being company has stated.

They embrace 226,000 girls in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria, about 38,800 of whom will ship within the subsequent month. Lots of them have been sheltering in camps or uncovered to freezing temperatures and struggling to get meals or clear water.

SYRIA AID

In Syria, already shattered by greater than a decade of civil battle, most deaths have been within the northwest, the place the United Nations stated 4,525 individuals have been killed. The world is managed by insurgents at battle with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, complicating help efforts.

Syrian officers say 1,414 individuals have been killed in areas underneath the management of Assad’s authorities.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) stated a convoy of 14 of its vans had entered northwestern Syria from Turkey on Sunday to help in rescue operations.

The World Meals Programme has additionally been pressuring authorities in that area to cease blocking entry for help from Syrian government-controlled areas.

As of Monday morning, 197 vans loaded with U.N. humanitarian help had entered northwest Syria by means of two border crossings, a spokesperson for the U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated.

Hundreds of Syrian refugees in Turkey have returned to their properties in northwest Syria to get in contact with kin affected by the devastation.

On the Turkish Cilvegozu border crossing, a whole bunch of Syrians lined up beginning early on Monday to cross.

Mustafa Hannan, who dropped off his pregnant spouse and 3-year-old son, stated he noticed about 350 individuals ready.

The 27-year-old automotive electrician stated his household was leaving for just a few months after their house in Antakya collapsed, taking over a pledge by authorities permitting them to spend as much as six months in Syria with out shedding the possibility to return to Turkey.

“I am frightened they will not be allowed again,” he stated. “We have already been separated from our nation. Are we going to be separated from our households now too? If I rebuild right here however they can not return, my life will likely be misplaced.”