As Turkey Begins To Rebuild Homes, Another Earthquake Hits Struggling Country

Istanbul: Hours after the Turkish government began work to rebuild homes for 1.5 million displaced people, another earthquake struck the struggling country.

Saturday’s quake, measuring 5.3 on Richter scale, was centred near the central province of Nigde, the Turkish disaster agency said.

It wasn’t as severe as the ones which devasted parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria 20 earlier this month. According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, the earthquake was at a depth of 10 km.

The location of today’s tremor hadn’t been affected earlier, so rescuers will have a new task on their hands.

It was on February 6 that strong earthquakes of 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude hit Turkey and Syria. There were around 40 aftershocks over the next fortnight, killing more than 50,000 people – 44,000-plus in Turkey and nearly 6,000 in Syria.

Over 1 lakh buildings with more than 5 lakh apartments collapsed or were severely damaged, according to Reuters.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has promised to rebuild homes within a year, even as several experts say authorities should put safety before speed.