On Monday, a new 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey, killing three people and injuring over 200 in areas that were already damaged by a massive quake that struck two weeks ago.

Another High Magnitude Earthquake Hit Turkey

On Monday, a new 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey, killing three people and injuring over 200 in areas that were already damaged by a massive quake that struck two weeks ago. The quake caused more buildings to collapse and trapped people, while neighboring Syria also experienced tremors resulting in scores of injuries. The earthquake was centered in the town of Defne in Turkey's Hatay province, one of the worst-hit areas in the magnitude 7.8 quake that struck on Feb. 6. It was felt in several countries, including Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt and was followed by a second magnitude 5.8 temblor.

According to Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, three people were killed and 213 injured. Search and rescue operations were underway in three collapsed buildings where six people were believed to be trapped. The police rescued one person trapped inside a three-story building in Hatay and were trying to reach three others inside. Those trapped included movers who were helping people shift furniture and other belongings from a damaged building. In neighboring Syria, six people were injured in Aleppo by falling debris. The White Helmets, northwest Syria's civil defense organization, reported more than 130 injuries, including fractures and cases of people fainting from fear, while a number of buildings in areas already damaged by the quake collapsed.

The Feb. 6 earthquake killed nearly 45,000 people in both Turkey and Syria, with the vast majority of them in Turkey, where more than a million and a half people are in temporary shelters. Turkish authorities have recorded over 6,000 aftershocks since the disaster. Journalists reporting from Hatay said they were violently jolted by the new quake, and the people there are really scared and do not want to return to their houses. The frightened residents of the Syrian city of Idlib were preparing to sleep in parks and other public places, while fuel lines formed at gas stations as people attempted to get as far away as possible from any buildings that might collapse.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Hatay and said his government would begin constructing nearly 200,000 new homes in the quake-devastated region as early as next month. The new buildings will be no taller than three or four stories, built on firmer ground and to higher standards, and in consultation with geophysics, geotechnical, geology, and seismology professors, and other experts. The destroyed cultural monuments would be rebuilt in accordance with their historic and cultural texture. Erdogan said around 1.6 million people are currently being housed in temporary shelters.

The Turkish disaster management agency AFAD on Monday raised the number of confirmed fatalities from the Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkey to 41,156. That increased the overall death toll in both Turkey and Syria to 44,844. Search and rescue operations for survivors have been called off in most of the quake zone, but AFAD chief Yunus Sezer said earlier that search teams were continuing their efforts in more than a dozen collapsed buildings, mostly in Hatay province. The European Union's health agency warned of the risk of disease outbreaks in the coming weeks, with the potential to cause outbreaks, particularly as survivors are moving to temporary shelters.