Death toll rises after fresh earthquake hits Turkey-Syria border on Monday

Eight people, 2 in Syria, 6 in Turkey were killed in an earthquake which struck the border region of Turkey and Syria on Monday evening, two weeks after a larger quake killed more than 47,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes.

Monday’s magnitude of 6.4, was centred near the southern Turkish city of Antakya and was felt in Syria, Egypt, Cyprus and Lebanon. It struck at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).

It was followed by 90 aftershocks, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said, even as rescue work from the initial tremors on Feb. 6 have been winding down. 

This earthquake is considered an aftershock of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake of February 6 and the phenomenon is ongoing and is being monitored by the Cyprus Seismological Centre of the Geological Survey Department.

AFAD said 6 people were killed and 294 others were injured with 18 in critical condition after Monday’s 6.4-magnitude quake. In Syria, a woman and a girl died as a result of panic during the earthquake in the provinces of Hama and Tartus, pro-government media outlets said.

A rescue team climbed a ladder to enter one building where some people had been trapped after the latest tremor. The quake struck while people were in the already damaged building to retrieve possessions before it was demolished.

In Samandag, where the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority AFAD had reported one person dead on Monday, residents said more buildings collapsed but most of the town had already fled after the initial earthquakes.

The death toll from the quakes two weeks ago rose to 41,156 in Turkey, AFAD said on Monday, and it was expected to climb further.

Among the survivors of the earthquakes are about 356,000 pregnant women who urgently need access to health services, the U.N. sexual and reproductive health agency has said.

They include 226,000 women in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria, about 38,800 of whom will deliver in the next month. Many of them were sheltering in camps or exposed to freezing temperatures and struggling to get food or clean water.