Magnitude 5.6 quake hits Türkiye's eastern province of Malatya; causes collapse of more buildings

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook Türkiye's eastern Malatya province on Monday — three weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region — causing some buildings to collapse, an official said. The epicentre of the tremor was the Yeşilyurt district in the Malatya province, which was hit by the February 6 earthquake that killed over 44,000 people in Türkiye and thousands more in neighbouring Syria. 'One citizen lost his life. Dozens of others got injured,' Yunus Sezer, chairman of the 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 Çınar, 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. Malatya was among 11 Turkish provinces that was hit hard by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6. Turkish authorities have expanded a criminal probe into individuals responsible for buildings levelled by the deadly earthquake that left millions without homes. 'It was determined that some buildings were destroyed in the quake. Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to the disaster area,' AFAD said on Twitter. 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 Erdoğan has announced plans to rebuild 270,000 homes in the devastated provinces within one year. At least 44,374 people have died due to those back-to-back earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6.

Magnitude 5.6 quake hits Türkiye's eastern province of Malatya; causes collapse of more buildings

The Magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred at 12.04 p.m. local time (0904GMT) and was centered 6.96 kilometers (4.32 miles) below the surface in the district of Yeşilyurt. The earthquake was also felt in neighbouring Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Adıyaman, and Şanlıurfa provinces.