The nightmare of the earthquake gives Turkey no respite.
While the trauma of the devastating earthquake that destroyed southeastern Anatolian just two weeks ago is still alive, buildings are collapsing again.
Two earthquakes of magnitude 6.4 and 5.8 struck the province of Hatay within a few minutes of each other, one of the hardest hit by the earthquake which on February 6 caused the death of over 46,000 people between Turkey and Syria - also if the balance is not yet definitive - and the destruction, or damage, of over one hundred thousand buildings.
According to preliminary information there are at least three dead and over 210 injured.
Among the victims a woman killed by the collapse of a concrete block that fell on her head in Samandag city, near Hatay.
And while according to some international media there are people trapped in the rubble, injuries are also reported in Syria, in Aleppo and Idlib.
Evacuations were immediately triggered, even from hospitals, throughout the affected province while the tsunami warning issued a few minutes after the tremors, then subsided.
The epicenter of the strongest shock, of 6.4, occurred between Samandag, a coastal town near the border with Syria, and Defne, a town not far inland, also near the border.
The earthquake was felt not only in the neighboring Syrian provinces, but also in Cyprus, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Israel and Egypt.
The two tremors were recorded shortly after 18 in Italy, at 20:04 and 20:07 local time,
After the earthquake of two weeks ago, more than 6,000 aftershocks were recorded in the affected area, including dozens of magnitudes between 5 and 6 before today's two major tremors which created panic among the displaced who have already been hosted in tent cities set up in the streets: there are more than one and a half million people, in all ten provinces hit by the earthquake two weeks ago.
The earthquake that hit Hatay came a few hours after the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who went to the area in the afternoon and announced that in March the reconstruction "from scratch" of all Turkish cities destroyed by the earthquake will begin.
"We want to move the center of the cities that are on the plains towards the mountain areas," Erdogan said, citing the
goal of reducing the risks associated with natural disasters.
The project for the new cities envisages buildings no taller than three or four floors, said the Turkish president who in the morning had met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Turkey to show Washington's solidarity and promising that the United States they will continue to assist Ankara to recover from the tragedy of the earthquake.
Since the day of the earthquake, "the number of people saved after being buried under the rubble has reached 114,834", Erdogan said today, adding that assistance has been given to over 1 million 600 thousand people forced to leave their homes after the earthquake.
The project for the new cities envisages buildings no taller than three or four floors, said the Turkish president who in the morning had met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Turkey to show Washington's solidarity and promising that the United States they will continue to assist Ankara to recover from the tragedy of the earthquake.
Since the day of the earthquake, "the number of people saved after being buried under the rubble has reached 114,834", Erdogan said today, adding that assistance has been given to over 1 million 600 thousand people forced to leave their homes after the earthquake.
The project for the new cities envisages buildings no taller than three or four floors, said the Turkish president who in the morning had met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Turkey to show Washington's solidarity and promising that the United States they will continue to assist Ankara to recover from the tragedy of the earthquake.
Since the day of the earthquake, "the number of people saved after being buried under the rubble has reached 114,834", Erdogan said today, adding that assistance has been given to over 1 million 600 thousand people forced to leave their homes after the earthquake.
arrived in Turkey to bring Washington's solidarity and promising that the United States will continue to assist Ankara to recover from the tragedy of the earthquake.
Since the day of the earthquake, "the number of people saved after being buried under the rubble has reached 114,834", Erdogan said today, adding that assistance has been given to over 1 million 600 thousand people forced to leave their homes after the earthquake.
arrived in Turkey to bring Washington's solidarity and promising that the United States will continue to assist Ankara to recover from the tragedy of the earthquake.
Since the day of the earthquake, "the number of people saved after being buried under the rubble has reached 114,834", Erdogan said today, adding that assistance has been given to over 1 million 600 thousand people forced to leave their homes after the earthquake.