Death toll rises after fresh earthquake hits Turkey-Syria border

ANTAKYA – Six people were killed in an earthquake which struck the border region of Turkey and Syria, CNN Turk reported on Tuesday, two weeks after a larger quake killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes.

Mondays quake, this time with a magnitude of 6.4, was centred near the southern Turkish city of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon. It struck at a depth of 10km, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

It was followed by 90 aftershocks, Turkeys Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said, even as rescue work from the initial tremors on Feb 6 is winding down.

CNN Turk showed a rescue team climbing a ladder to enter one building where some people had been trapped after the latest tremor. It said the quake struck while people were in the already damaged building to retrieve possessions before it was demolished.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 294 people were injured in Monday evenings earthquake, with 18 seriously hurt and transported to hospitals in Adana and Dortyol.

Patients were evacuated from some health facilities that had remained in operation after the massive tremors two weeks ago, as cracks had emerged in the buildings, Mr Koca said on Twitter.

In Samandag, where AFAD reported one person dead, residents said more buildings collapsed but most of the town had already fled after the initial earthquakes. Mounds of debris and discarded furniture lined the dark, abandoned streets.

Ms Muna Al Omar said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the ground started heaving again.

I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet, she said, crying as she held her seven-year-old son in her arms.

Hours earlier, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on a visit to Turkey that Washington would help for as long as it takes as rescue operations in the wake of the Feb 6 earthquake and its aftershocks were winding down, and focus turned towards urgent shelter and reconstruction work.

The death toll from the quakes two weeks ago rose to 41,156 in Turkey, AFAD said on Monday, and it was expected to climb further, with 385,000 apartments known to have been destroyed or seriously damaged and many people still missing.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said construction work on nearly 200,000 apartments in 11 earthquake-hit provinces of Turkey would begin in March.

Total US humanitarian assistance to support the earthquake response in Turkey and Syria has reached US$185 million (S$247 million), the US State Department said.

Among the survivors of the earthquakes are about 356,000 pregnant women who urgently need access to health services, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency has said.

They include 226,000 women in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria, about 38,800 of whom will deliver in the next month. Many of them were sheltering in camps or exposed to freezing temperatures and struggling to get food or clean water. People queueing for free food amid the rubble in Kahramanmaras,Turkey, on Feb 16, following a deadly earthquake. PHOTO: REUTERS More On This Topic Interactive: Mapping the aftermath of the Turkey, Syria quake Turkey quake survivor: Im alive, I should help others Syria aid

In Syria, already shattered by more than a decade of civil war, most deaths have been in the north-west, where the United Nations said 4,525 people were killed. The area is controlled by insurgents at war with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, complicating aid efforts.

Syrian officials say 1,414 people were killed in areas under the control of Mr Assads government.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said a convoy of 14 of its trucks had entered north-western Syria from Turkey on Sunday to assist in rescue operations.

The World Food Programme has also been pressuring the authorities in that region to stop blocking access for aid from Syrian government-controlled areas. People staying outdoors in downtown Beirut, after an earthquake was felt across Lebanon on Feb 20. PHOTO: EPA-EFE As of Monday morning, 197 trucks loaded with UN humanitarian aid had entered north-west Syria through two border crossings, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey have returned to their homes in north-west Syria to get in touch with relatives affected by the devastation.

At the Turkish Cilvegozu border crossing, hundreds of Syrians lined up from early on Monday to cross.

Mr Mustafa Hannan, who dropped off his pregnant wife and three-year-old son, said he saw about 350 people waiting.

The 27-year-old car electrician said his family were leaving for a few months after their home in Antakya collapsed, taking up a pledge by the authorities allowing them to spend up to six months in Syria without losing the chance to return to Turkey.

Im worried they wont be allowed back, he said. Weve already been separated from our nation. Are we going to be separated from our families now too? If I rebuild here but they cant return, my life will be lost. REUTERS More On This Topic Survivors dug out of rubble in Turkey, but many families pray to find a body to mourn Turkey rages at shoddy construction after earthquake-proof homes topple