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Turkey hit by 6.3 magnitude earthquake

By Lauren Silver, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Earthquake hits Turkey HATAY, TURKIYE - FEBRUARY 20: Personnel make inspections in collapsed and partially collapsed buildings after the earthquakes in Hatay, Turkiye on February 20, 2023. Two earthquakes jolted Turkiye's southernmost Hatay province on Monday, just two weeks after major quakes hit the region. According to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), one of the quakes took place at around 20.04 p.m. local time (1704GMT) in the Defne district of Hatay, with a magnitude of 6.4, while the other took place three minutes later, with the epicenter in Hatay's Samandag province, with a magnitude of 5.8. (Photo by Kadir Kemal Behar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

By Lauren Silver, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

HATAY, Turkey — An earthquake shook Turkey near the Syrian border on Monday, two weeks after a massive earthquake in the region killed thousands.

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The United States Geological Survey listed the 6.3 magnitude quake as centered three kilometers southwest of Uzunbağ, Turkey.

The Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory described the earthquake as having a magnitude of 6.4 and a depth of 7.7 kilometers.

Update 3:17 p.m. EST Feb. 20:

Hatay Mayor Lutfu Savas told a Turkish broadcaster that he had received reports that people were trapped under rubble and that at least eight people had been injured, Reuters reported.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that at least six people were hurt by falling debris in Aleppo and taken to the hospital, USA Today reported.

The mayor of Samandag, a town near the earthquake’s epicenter, told CNN that some buildings had collapsed and residents were panicking.

In Adana, residents described people leaving their homes for the street, carrying blankets into their cars, USA Today reported. “No one wants to get back into their houses,” eyewitness Alejandro Malaver said.

Muna Al Omar told Reuters she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya, the capital of Turkey’s Hatay Province, when the quake began.

“I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet,” she said.

Monday’s earthquake was reportedly felt in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon, the BBC reported.

The Syrian American Medical Society Foundation said that five of its hospitals received at least 30 people who were injured in the latest earthquake, according to the BBC.

Original story:

NTV television said that the quake caused some damaged buildings to collapse, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, The Associated Press reported.

Hatay was one of the 10 provinces hit hard by two earthquakes on Feb. 6 that killed more than 41,000 people in Turkey and neighboring Syria, Bloomberg reported.

AFAD, the Turkish disaster management agency, told the AP that the number of confirmed fatalities from the Feb. 6 earthquake was 41,156. That brings the total number of deaths to 44,844.

Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since the Feb. 6 earthquake, the AP reported.

Turkey/Syria earthquake: Couple saved after 12 days; child dies

Search and rescue operations for survivors have ended in much of the quake zone, but AFAD told reporters that search teams are continuing to search through some collapsed buildings in Hatay, the AP reported.

Check back for more on this developing story.

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