a new earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.4, recorded in the province of Hatay, already bruised by the earthquakes of February 6

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 was recorded on Monday (July 20th) in the Turkish province of Hatay, in the south of the country, the Turkish relief agency Afad reported. This province has already been hit by “the two powerful earthquakes” of February 6 which caused more than 41,000 deaths in Turkey.

The earthquake, whose epicenter was located in the locality of Defne, according to Afad, occurred at 8:04 p.m. (5:04 p.m. in Paris) and was very violently felt by AFP teams in Antakya and Adana, 200 km more North.

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According to an AFP journalist on the spot, the quake sparked panic among the already hard-hit population, and raised large clouds of dust in the ruined city. He saw and heard several sections of already badly damaged building walls crumble and several people, apparently injured, calling for help.

More than 6,000 aftershocks for two weeks

According to Afad, more than 6,000 aftershocks have been recorded since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated southern Turkey and Syria.

On Monday, the Turkish President announced the construction of 200,000 homes in the eleven Turkish provinces affected by the devastating earthquakes of February 6. “None of the buildings will be more than three or four stories tall”, said Recep Tayyip Erdogan from Hatay province. The earthquakes destroyed or severely damaged more than 118,000 buildings.