UN ready to provide ‘additional support’ after 2 more quakes hit Türkiye

By Rabia İclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that the world body is ready to provide “additional support” after two more earthquakes jolted Türkiye’s southern province of Hatay.

“My thoughts continue to be with the people of Türkiye and Syria as they face the impact of new earthquakes striking the region this evening,” Guterres wrote on Twitter.

“UN teams on the ground are assessing the situation, and we stand ready to provide additional support as needed,” he added. ​​​​​​​

Two earthquakes jolted Hatay province Monday, just two weeks after major quakes hit the region, the country’s disaster management agency said.

According to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), one of the quakes took place around 8.04 p.m. local time (1704GMT) in Defne district with a magnitude of 6.4, while the other one, with a magnitude of 5.8, took place three minutes later, with the epicenter in Samandag district.

It came as magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes centered in Kahramanmaras struck 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye and Elazig – on Feb. 6, killing at least 41,000 people. ​​​​​​​