A new earthquake was detected in the southeastern part of Turkey on Monday, the Turkish authorities reported, quoted by international agencies. One person died, 110 were injured and 29 buildings collapsed.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 5.6 and a depth of 6.15 km, with its epicenter in the small southeastern town of Yesilurt in Malatya province. The area was one of those affected by the massive earthquake on February 6, which killed tens of thousands of people in Turkey and Syria.
Yunus Sezer, head of Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency AFAD, told a news conference that rescue teams were deployed in five buildings. After the quake, AFAD posted a new warning on Twitter urging people not to enter or even stand near damaged buildings in the quake zone.
In the past three weeks, four new earthquakes have been recorded in the region, as well as 45 aftershocks with magnitudes between five and six, according to AFAD’s Director General for Earthquakes and Risk Reduction, Orhan Tatar. “This is very unusual activity,” he said.
On Sunday, AFAD said the death toll from the devastating earthquake three weeks ago had risen to 44,374. Thus, the total number of dead in Turkey and neighboring Syria exceeds 50,000 people.
More than 160,000 buildings with 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in Turkey by the disaster, the worst in the country’s modern history.
According to experts, many of the collapsed buildings were built with substandard materials and methods that did not meet state standards. The opposition accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of failing to enforce building regulations.
News of the February earthquakes comes amid upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in the country in the coming months.
