ISTANBUL, TURKEY — A 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey on Monday, killing one person and wounding dozens others while causing some damaged buildings to collapse, the government’s disaster agency said.
The epicentre of the tremor was the Yesilyurt district in the Malatya province, which was hit by the February 6 earthquake that killed over 44,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighbouring Syria.
“One citizen lost his life. Some 69 were injured,” Yunus Sezer, chairman of AFAD disaster agency, said in televised comments.
AFAD tweeted that 29 buildings already damaged by a powerful February 6 earthquake had collapsed.
“Our search and rescue teams were quickly dispatched to the region, and started to work,” it added.
The local mayor, Mehmet Cinar, said a father and his daughter were trapped after they entered a damaged building to get their belongings, Turkish media reported.
Television images showed the man being carried on a stretcher into an ambulance, while rescue teams were trying to make contact with his daughter inside the damaged building.
Turkish authorities have expanded a criminal probe into individuals responsible for buildings levelled by the deadly earthquake that left millions without homes.
AFAD recorded almost 10,000 aftershocks after the February 6 quake. Some 173,000 buildings are believed to have sustained damage according to local media reports.
Turkish media has vocally criticised developers for using shoddy materials and failing to comply with construction codes.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced plans to rebuild 270,000 homes in the devastated provinces within one year.
— AFP
