TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Latest Turkey earthquake kills one person

There have been four fresh earthquakes in the region in the past three weeks.

Timour Azhari (Reuters) (The Jakarta Post)
Osmaniye, Turkey
Tue, February 28, 2023 Published on Feb. 28, 2023 Published on 2023-02-28T07:15:14+07:00

Change text size

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

A

n earthquake shook southeast Turkey on Monday, killing one person, injuring 69 and causing 29 buildings to collapse, Turkish authorities said, triggering frantic work to rescue several people believed trapped in rubble.

The latest aftershock, with a magnitude of 5.6 and depth of 6.15 kilometers, hit three weeks after a massive quake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

A rescue team carried out one man alive, strapped to a stretcher, from the rubble of a building in the province of Malatya, live footage on broadcaster CNN Turk showed.

A while later, it showed a woman, said to be the man's daughter, rescued from the same building.

Yunus Sezer, head of Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) told a news conference that search and rescue teams had been deployed to five buildings.

There have been four fresh earthquakes in the region in the past three weeks, as well as 45 aftershocks with magnitudes between five and six, said AFAD's general director of earthquake and risk reduction Orhan Tatar.

"This is a very extraordinary activity," Tatar said.

The earthquakes have struck months ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held by June, which present the biggest political challenge to President Tayyip Erdogan in his two-decade rule.

A delegation from Turkey's High Election Board was scheduled to visit the quake zone on Monday to start gathering material for a report on the feasibility of holding elections in the region.

Turkey has arrested 184 people suspected of complicity in the collapse of buildings in this month's earthquakes and investigations are widening, a minister said on Saturday.

On Sunday, AFAD announced that the death toll in the devastating quake three weeks ago had risen to 44,374.

The overall number of deaths in Turkey and neighboring Syria exceeds 50,000.

More than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in Turkey by the disaster, the worst in the country's modern history.

The quakes are expected to have a deep psychological impact, with children particularly vulnerable.

After the latest tremor, the AFAD issued a fresh warning on Twitter telling people not to enter or even stand near damaged buildings in the earthquake zone.

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.

Share options

Quickly share this news with your network—keep everyone informed with just a single click!

Change text size options

Customize your reading experience by adjusting the text size to small, medium, or large—find what’s most comfortable for you.

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

Continue in the app

Get the best experience—faster access, exclusive features, and a seamless way to stay updated.