Three dead as Turkey hit by new earthquake

TURKEY (AP):

A new 6.4-magnitude earthquake on Monday killed three people and injured more than 200 in parts of Turkey that were laid waste two weeks ago by a massive quake that killed tens of thousands.

Officials said more buildings collapsed, trapping occupants, and several people were injured in both Turkey and Syria. Monday's earthquake was centred in the town of Defne, in Turkey's Hatay province, one of the worst-hit regions in the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit on February 6. It was felt in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel and as far away as Egypt, and was followed by a second, 5.8-magnitude temblor. Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said three people were killed and 213 injured. Search-and-rescue efforts were under way in three collapsed buildings where five people were believed trapped.

A number of buildings collapsed in the new quake, trapping people inside, Hatay's Mayor Lutfu Savas said. He told NTV television that these may be people who had returned to homes or were trying to move their furniture out of damaged buildings. Turkey's Vice-President Fuat Oktay said at least eight people were hospitalised. Syria's state news agency, SANA, reported that six people were injured in Aleppo from falling debris.

In Hatay, police search teams rescued one person who was trapped inside a three-storey building and were trying to reach three others inside, HaberTurk television reported. The February 6 quake killed nearly 45,000 people in both countries -- the vast majority of them in Turkey, where more than a million and a half people are in temporary shelters. Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since. Journalists reporting from Hatay said they were jolted violently by Monday's quake and held on to each other to avoid falling. In the Turkish city of Adana, eyewitness Alejandro Malaver said people left their homes for the streets, carrying blankets into their cars. Malaver said everyone is really scared and that "no one wants to get back into their houses".

The Syrian opposition's Syrian Civil Defence, also known as White Helmets, reported that several people were injured in Syria's rebel-held northwest after they jumped from buildings or when they were struck by falling debris in the town of Jinderis, one of the towns worst affected by the February 6 earthquake. The White Helmets said several damaged and abandoned buildings collapsed in Syria's northwest without injuring anyone. In the Syrian city of Idlib, frightened residents were preparing to sleep in parks and other public places, while fuel lines formed at gas stations as people attempted to get as far as possible from any buildings that might collapse.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which runs hospitals in northern Syria, said it had treated a number of patients - including a seven-year-old boy - who suffered heart attacks brought on by fear following the new quake. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Hatay earlier on Monday, and said his government would begin constructing close to 200,000 new homes in the quake-devastated region as early as next month.