Two weeks after devastating earthquakes, Turkey and Syria have been hit again by strong aftershocks, increasing the number of injured and causing new damage to buildings, writes Reuters.
On the evening of Monday, the 20th of February, several more earthquakes occurred in Turkey, and tremors were also felt in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. The strongest, 6,4-magnitude earthquake, had its epicenter near Antakya in Turkey, at a depth of about ten kilometers.
CNN Turk showed a video of a rescue team climbing a ladder into the building. It collapsed as a result of the latest tremors, and people who collected their belongings there before the planned dismantling of the building were trapped under the ruins.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca informed that 294 people were injured.
He also added that people were evacuated from some healthcare facilities because cracks appeared in the buildings, that were still standing after the previous earthquakes.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Turkey on the 20th of February and stated that Washington will provide Turkey with support as long as necessary.
The death toll in Turkey has reached 41,156 people, and it is believed that the number will become even higher. The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced that next month, the construction works of about 200,000 apartments will begin in the regions most affected by the earthquake. However, experts believe that hasty construction works can be the cause of tragedies in the future.
The UN reports that among the survivors of the earthquake, there are also about 356 thousand pregnant women who urgently need access to healthcare services.
About 38,800 of these women are due to give birth in the next month. Many of them are currently in temporary camps.
In Syria, the highest number of dead is in the northwest of the country, according to the information available to the UN, it is 4,525 people. Humanitarian aid has been hampered in this rebel-held region. 1414 people died in the territories controlled by the government.
Read also: Buildings in Turkey have been unsafe even before the earthquake