At least one person died and dozens were injured in a 5.6-magnitude earthquake in the southeastern Turkish province of Malatya on Monday, the public disaster management agency (Afad) said. .
“One of our fellow citizens has unfortunately died. 69 injured have been transferred to hospitals,” Afad boss Yunus Sezer said during a press briefing.
About 30 buildings also collapsed during this aftershock of the violent earthquake that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, according to the same source.
The mayor of the city of Yesilyurt, located near the epicenter, indicated on the Habertürk television channel that a father and his daughter, who had come to collect personal belongings from their accommodation, were under the rubble of one of the collapsed buildings.
“Buildings collapsed and our search and rescue teams were quickly dispatched,” Afad previously said on Twitter.
Images broadcast Monday by Turkish television showed rescuers hard at work, some removing rubble by hand.
The aftershock occurred at 12:04 local time (09:04 GMT), according to Afad.
The province of Malatya had already been affected by the devastating earthquake of February 6, which killed 44,374 people in the south and south-east of the country, according to the latest official report.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8, destroyed or seriously damaged more than 170,000 buildings in eleven provinces of the country and also affected the north of neighboring Syria.
Some 10,000 aftershocks have taken place since February 6 in Turkey, according to Afad.
27/02/2023 12:55:07 — Istanbul (AFP) © 2023 AFP
