Key updates:
- Quake came as rescue work winds down in Turkey
- Erdogan’s government faces criticism ahead of elections
- Feb. 6 quake killed more than 47,000
Six people were killed in the latest earthquake to strike the border region of Turkey and Syria, authorities said on Tuesday, two weeks after a massive quake killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, Reuters reports.
The quake, which struck just as the rescue work from the initial devastating earthquake was winding down, was centered near the Turkish city of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.
The magnitude of the quake was measured at 6.3 by US and European seismological agencies, and at 6.4 by Turkish monitors.
It was followed by 90 aftershocks, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said.
More than 41,000 people were killed in Turkey in the initial quake, officials say, while the toll in neighboring Syria stands at around 6,000.
President Tayyip Erdogan said 865,000 people are living in tents and 23,500 in containers, while 376,000 are in student dormitories and public guesthouses outside the earthquake zone.
Erdogan’s government has faced criticism about what many Turks said was a slow response, and over construction policies that meant thousands of apartment buildings collapsed, trapping victims under rubble.
“It is our duty to hold the wrongdoers accountable before the law,” Erdogan said in the southern province of Osmaniye.
He faces presidential and parliamentary elections in May, although the disaster could prompt a delay in the vote.
Source: Reuters
