Turkey-Syria quake updates: Aftershocks hit devastated region

Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr, reporting live from Lebanon, said that some of the injuries reported in opposition-controlled northwestern Syria were the result of “panic” and that hospitals remain overwhelmed in the aftermath of the previous quakes.

“Some people actually jumped from their balconies,” Khodr said. “In hospitals, there is still an emergency. Doctors are still dealing with the thousands of cases of injuries as a result of the two earthquakes two weeks ago.”

Khodr also noted that options for those in the region are slim, as they are hemmed in by Syrian armed forces on one side and southern Turkey on another, which itself was devastated by the earthquakes.

“These are people left to deal with this disaster alone,” she said. “While some aid has trickled in, it is still not enough to deal with the crisis.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey will build almost 200,000 new homes in the country’s southeastern region.

He promised reconstruction work would begin in March to build 199,739 homes in the affected provinces.

“None of these buildings will be more than three or four storeys high,” he promised, after the earthquakes caused several high-rise blocks of flats to collapse.

Abdulkafi Alhamdo, an activist in northern Syria, tells Al Jazeera that although they were shorter and weaker, the latest earthquakes still caused horror for people.

“Because of the previous experience, people have panic, trauma, so everyone rushed outside,” he said.

“Some people got into accidents rushing out,” he said. “Some even jumped from their balconies to escape the earthquake. People here are not safe. They don’t trust anything, even if their buildings are very strong.”

At least three people have been killed and 213 have been wounded in two new earthquakes in southern Turkey, according to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay says eight people have been injured in the magnitude 6.4 aftershock.

“We have eight injured people taken to hospitals,” he said as he asked people in the region not to enter damaged buildings.

Mehmet Kokum, an assistant professor of geology based in Elazig, Turkey, says there has been more than 5,000 aftershocks since the initial earthquakes on February 6.

“This is quite expected,” he told Al Jazeera. “We know in our experience the aftershocks will last from months to years. But it’s going to decrease day by day.”

Watch the moment the magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Hatay’s airport and sent panic through the region once again.

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A post shared by Al Jazeera English (@aljazeeraenglish)

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Adana in Turkey, says the continuing earthquakes have put massive mental stress on people living in the region.

“We covered wars and other dangerous situations … You can read certain things when it comes to wars,” she said.

“But when you are dealing with Mother Nature, there is nothing you can do, and I believe this is having a major impact on the people here.”

A video shared by Haluk Levent, an activist and singer, reportedly shows a collapsed building in Hatay and rescue teams from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency working on the site.

Şehit Murat Apaydın caddesinde yıkılan bina.@AFADBaskanlik ekipleri müdahale ediyorlar. pic.twitter.com/YpFYETjm77

— Haluk Levent (@haluklevent) February 20, 2023

The massive earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria have not only caused death and destruction but also deep trauma to the survivors.

Psychologists have headed to quake-hit areas to help residents cope with the devastating impact of the magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 temblors, which hit two weeks ago.

They say psychosocial programmes should be implemented in the region to educate and help people cope with trauma so they can go back to routine life.

Read more here.

Turkey’s disaster management agency is urging residents to stay away from the Mediterranean coast, warning that waters could rise 50cm (20 inches) due to the quakes.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority also said its teams in the region are on alert and responding to emergency calls.

Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from Gaziantep, says there are reports of more structures being destroyed on the Turkish-Syrian border as aftershocks continue to rock the region.

“There are buildings that are standing but have been damaged,” Baig said. “The fear is if there are more aftershocks like this, it could bring down those buildings, threatening lives.

“Many people here are very scared.”

A second earthquake of magnitude 5.8 struck southern Turkey’s Hatay province several minutes after the initial magnitude 6.4 tremor, Turkey’s emergency management agency says.

The second one was centred in Hatay’s Samandag district, just southwest of where the first hit.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay urged people to stay away from damaged buildings and to follow officials’ warnings.

More earthquakes struck the border region of Turkey and Syria, just two weeks after the area was devastated by twin temblors that killed last least 47,000.

Monday’s magnitude 6.4 tremor was centred near the city of Defne outside Antakya in Turkey’s southernmost province of Hatay. It was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.

There were reports of people trapped under buildings.