Another earthquake hits Türkiye’s southernmost Hatay province

By Burak Dag and Ibrahim Erikan

HATAY, Türkiye (AA) – A fresh earthquake rocked Türkiye’s southernmost Hatay province on Thursday evening, the country’s disaster agency said.

The magnitude 5 tremor hit the Defne district at 6.53 p.m. local time (1553GMT) at a depth of 9.76 kilometers (6 miles), according the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

Hatay Governor Rahmi Dogan said a few buildings, which were already damaged from the previous quakes, collapsed.

There were no injuries or people trapped in the debris according to initial reports, he added.

On Tuesday, a magnitude 6.4 quake jolted Hatay, killing six people, just two weeks after powerful tremblors hit Türkiye’s southern region.

On Feb. 6, the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes shook southern Türkiye. Centered in the Kahramanmaras province, they struck 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Adiyaman, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig. At least 43,556 people were killed in the twin earthquakes, according to the latest official figures. Thousands of others were also injured.

Some 8,550 aftershocks have occurred since the twin quakes, said Orhan Tatar, the general director of earthquake and risk reduction at AFAD.