Turkey and Syria were hit by another powerful earthquake tonight. In southeastern Turkey, there are reports of deaths and several hundred injuries.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.4, was around 2 kilometers deep and had its epicenter in the town of Defne in the Turkish province of Hatay, which borders Syria.

It is an area particularly prone to earthquakes, explains Mathilde Bøttger Sørensen, professor of seismology at the University of Bergen.

– Although it may take time between each earthquake, it is not a big surprise that it happened here, she told Dagbladet.

Tensions

– The reason earthquakes happen is because the outermost part of the earth is divided into plates that move relative to each other. It is in the boundaries of these plates that we have the largest earthquakes, and it is precisely at this boundary that the great earthquake in Turkey occurred, she explains further.

– What causes the most earthquakes in these areas?

– Because you are at the limits of the earth’s plates, there is movement there, and tensions accumulate in the earth’s crust, which over time are released in earthquakes, answers the professor.

replicas

Turkish authorities have recorded more than 6,000 aftershocks since the first strong earthquake hit the border area between Turkey and Syria on February 6.

The reason such aftershocks occur is that it takes some time after a large earthquake for the system to calm down, according to Professor Sørensen.

– When we had a major earthquake, there will still be some small adjustments in the period after. That’s what aftershocks are, she explains.

In Hatay province’s capital, Antakya, and several other cities, many buildings that were damaged in earthquakes two weeks ago have now collapsed, writes NTB.

Eyewitnesses speak of an upsurge in panic in the city, and rescue teams searched again on Monday evening in the ruins of collapsed houses.

According to Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, three people have so far been found dead and more than 200 injured after Monday’s aftershock.

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Heartbreaking

– There are heartbreaking reports of even more collapsed buildings and power outages in an area where more than 46,000 lives have already been lost and buildings destroyed, says Dan Stewart in Save the Children, which is located in Gaziantep, Turkey.

– Hundreds of thousands of people have again fled to the streets in the freezing cold. Families who have already lost everything have just suffered another devastating blow, he says.

Enormous

It was on February 6 that Turkey and Syria were hit by a huge earthquake, which was measured at a magnitude of 7.8.

The official death toll from the earthquake disaster topped 46,000.

Of these, more than 41,000 people have been found dead in Turkey, according to Turkish authorities.