A new earthquake hits Turkey, as teams still respond to earlier catastrophic quake

NPR | By Daniel Estrin

Published February 20, 2023 at 3:55 PM EST

People in Antakya, Turkey, react after a new earthquake struck on Monday.

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — At least three people were killed and more than 200 injured when a a magnitude 6.4 earthquake, followed by a magnitude 5.8 quake, shook southeastern Turkey on Monday, Turkey's interior minister said.

It came as emergency teams are still responding to the catastrophic earthquake two weeks ago, which killed nearly 45,000 people in Turkey and Syria and displaced an estimated million people.

Turkish authorities say Monday's quake struck around 8 p.m. local time. The Feb. 6 earthquake was a magnitude 7.8. Turkish officials say there have been thousands of aftershocks in the last two weeks.

Monday's earthquake, which the U.S. Geological Survey reported as magnitude 6.3, also shook Syria, where a rescue group reported injuries from falling debris, and Lebanon.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said at least six were trapped when several buildings collapsed Monday. He said those killed were from the cities of Antakya, Defne and Samandag.

Turkish public broadcaster TRT broadcast live footage of rescue crews operating at a collapsed building in the city of Antakya, one of the worst-hit cities in the Feb. 6 earthquake. It said residents were recovering belongings from their building — damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquake — when it collapsed after the ground shook again on Monday.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said at least one person had been rescued from the rubble.

"Don't enter damaged buildings," Oktay warned in a televised statement. "Think about your relatives, your loved ones, your spouses. Think about your nation. Don't worry about your belongings, they're replaceable."

Turkey's public broadcaster aired a video it said was of a person crying out for help after he tried to rescue a cat from a damaged building and got caught in debris when Monday's earthquake struck.

The quake was felt in Gaziantep, about 100 miles from Antakya. City squares were filled with families who rushed out of their homes.

At a Gaziantep baklava restaurant, patrons on the second floor calmly walked outside and a chandelier swung lightly. A waiter's family escaped their home and brought blankets into the restaurant to sleep there.