Fresh tremors rock Turkey; 3 dead and over 200 injured

Search and rescue personnel are once again searching for survivors trapped under rubble in Turkey after two fresh tremors of 6.4 and 5.8 magnitudes struck the country – in the southeast near the border with Syria – killing at least three people and injuring 200 others.

While the 6.4 tremor struck at 20:04 local time, the 5.8 quake followed just three minutes later, according to Turkey’s disaster and emergency agency.

The earthquakes hit just days after powerful tremors from February 6 devastated Turkey and neighbouring Syria, killing thousands of people in their sleep and compelling numerous others to rush into the streets in their pyjamas. The combined death toll from the earlier quakes has crossed 47,000, while millions of people have become homeless.

Buildings weakened by the previous tremors collapsed in both countries on Monday. Three people were confirmed dead from the recent quakes in Turkey – in Antakya, Defne, and Samandag – said Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, urging residents not to enter potentially dangerous structures.

18-year-old local resident Ali Mazlum said he had been searching for the bodies of family members from the earlier disaster when the latest quakes struck, AFP news agency reported.

“I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” another resident Muna al-Omar was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

In neighbouring Syria, nearly 470 injured people are said to have visited hospitals following Monday’s earthquakes, which people in Egypt and Lebanon also reportedly felt.

Some 356,000 pregnant women who require immediate access to health services are among the survivors of the previous earthquakes in the two countries, according to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency. Almost 38,800 of them are expected to deliver in the next month.

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