At least one killed as magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Turkey

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Authorities say least one person dead in factory collapse in region still reeling from earlier devastation.

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake has hit eastern Turkey, killing at least one person and wounding dozens while causing some damaged buildings to collapse.

Monday’s earthquake became the latest major tremor to rock southern Turkey as the region rebuilds from earlier massive quakes that killed more than 50,000 people across southern Turkey and northwest Syria.

The latest quake was centred in the town of Yesilyurt in Malatya province, the country’s disaster management agency (AFAD) said, adding that one person was killed when a factory collapsed in Kahramanmaras, the epicentre of a the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit the region on February 6, and 69 others were injured.

Yesilyurt’s mayor, Mehmet Cinar, told HaberTurk television that a number of buildings in the town collapsed, including a four-storey building where a father and daughter were trapped.

Cinar said the pair had entered the damaged building to collect belongings.

Television images showed the man being carried on a stretcher into an ambulance, while rescue teams were trying to make contact with his daughter inside the damaged building.

Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, reporting from Gazientap, said the quake was also felt by people living in temporary camps after being displaced by the earlier quakes.

“The earthquake was also felt here in the centre of Gaziantep, right where those who have been affected by the earthquakes that happened on February 6 are living now inside tents. It generated fear and anguish once again,” Bo said.

The United Nations has said at least 1.5 million people have been made homeless in southern Turkey, with more than 500,000 homes needing to be rebuilt.

Nearly 10,000 aftershocks have been reported since February 6, according to AFAD.

Last week, Turkey said about 865,000 people were living in tents and 23,500 were in container homes, while 376,000 were in student dormitories and public guesthouses outside the earthquake zone.

The latest quake comes days after Turkey began an operation to relocate people living in tents to container cities, with the first phase set to move move people into 15,000 containers.

Turkish authorities have expanded a criminal probe into individuals responsible for buildings levelled by the deadly earthquake that left millions without homes.

The government has also been accused of lax safety enforcement ahead of the quakes.