Fresh 5.6 magnitude earthquake hits Turkey, kills 1; flattens more buildings

Three weeks after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, killing more than 50,000 people, a fresh earthquake shook southeast Turkey on Monday.

The latest earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 and a depth of 6.15 km, killed one person, injured 110 and collapsed 29 buildings, reported Reuters.

The quake caused some buildings already damaged by a powerful tremor earlier this month to collapse, the government’s disaster agency said. The epicentre of the tremor was the Yesilyurt district in the Malatya province, which was also hit by the February 6 earthquake.

Turkish authorities told news agency Reuters that the earthquake triggered frantic work to rescue several people believed to be trapped in the rubble. The local mayor, Mehmet Cinar, said he guided teams urgently to check whether there was anyone trapped under rubble, reported AFP.

There have been four new earthquakes and 45 aftershocks of magnitudes 5-6 since the two massive quakes on February 6, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), reported the BBC.

A video telecasted on broadcaster CNN Turk showed a rescue team pulling out a man alive from the rubble of a building in the province of Malatya. The video also shows the man’s daughter also being rescued from the same apartment block. They were said to have entered the damaged building to retrieve possessions left there after the first quake three weeks ago.

At one building, where three people were believed to be trapped, a team intermittently called for silence while they listened for sounds of life within, Reuters reported.

There have been four fresh earthquakes in the region in the past three weeks, as well as 45 aftershocks with magnitudes between five and six, AFAD’s general director of earthquake and risk reduction, Orhan Tatar, told Reuters.

“This is very extraordinary activity,” Tatar said.

Yunus Sezer, head of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) told a news conference that search and rescue teams had been deployed to five buildings.

Turkish authorities have widened their criminal probe into individuals responsible for buildings levelled by the deadly earthquake that left millions without homes. The press has also criticised developers for using shoddy construction materials and failing to comply with the safety guidelines.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces an election this year, has announced plans to rebuild 270,000 homes in the devastated provinces within one year. The earthquakes have struck months ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held by June.

This is probably the biggest political challenge to Erdogan in his two-decade rule. Amid mounting anger at the government’s response, Erdogan has asked people in a heavily quake-hit area of Turkey for understanding over rescue delays.

On a visit to Adiyaman, Erdogan said the tremors and bad weather meant “we could not work as we would have liked”. “For this, I ask forgiveness,” he said, reported the BBC.

The disaster in Turkey has left 1.5 million people homeless and many thousands of people remain without shelter or sanitation.