People rush to leave Hatay after recent tremors

HATAY

Following the quakes in the southern province of Hatay, which suffered the most severe damage in the quakes on Feb. 6, it was shaken by another tremors on Feb. 20, people living in the region are quickly leaving the city and a mass exodus is experienced at exit roads and bus terminals.

The earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.4 and 5.8 on Feb. 20 struck the province with panic and anxiety.

Most of its districts, especially Antakya, İskenderun and Defne, have almost turned into ghost towns.

After the recent tremors, it was observed that the streets of Hatay, which had already been destroyed by the previous quakes, had now completely turned into rubble.

Constantly issuing warnings, the authorities do not allow to citizens to be enter the damaged buildings in the city, which are full of piles of debris.

There is no one on the streets of the historic city except security forces and reporters, while special operations units perform patrol duties.

People seeking to arrive in the other provinces created huge traffic jams at the exit points of Hatay, while there is also a shortage of fuel at the gas stations in the region.

An official from a road transportation company stated they transported at least 2,000 passengers each day from Hatay to the other regions.

It was also learned that many people in the region, who suffered serios traumas due to Feb. 6 quakes, were brought to the surrounding hospitals with complaints of mental breakdown.

Earthquake survivors living in the tents expressed that their mental health cannot handle this situation anymore.

“I wish this nightmare will end,” one of them said.

Following the devastating Feb. 6 quakes in Türkiye’s south, which claimed the lives of over 42,000 people, another 6.4 magnitude earthquake rattled the southern province of Hatay on Feb. 20.

Another six people lost their lives due to the recent tremors.

Among the dead were three people who became trapped after returning to their damaged flats to retrieve belongings.

İbrahim Güzel, the mayor of the Defne district, the epicenter of the 6.4 magnitude quake, underlined that the quake was quite severe, and it was felt three times as strong as the Kahramanmaraş-centered quakes.

Immediately after the earthquake, AFAD issued a tsunami warning in accordance with the information received from Boğaziçi University’s Kandilli Observatory.

However, the agency withdrew the warning at around 9:30 p.m., stating that this was a precaution taken against the risk of rising water in the first two hours after the earthquake.