Strong earthquakes hit Türkiye, Syria again, 2 weeks after tragic quakes

ANKARA/DAMASCUS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck southern Türkiye on Monday night, the country's disaster agency said, two weeks after two strong quakes jolted the region.

The quake was centered in Defne district of the Hatay province which borders Syria.

A 5.8 shock followed the first quake in Samandag district of Hatay, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said.

The province was already hit severely by dual quakes on Feb.6.

Meanwhile, the Syrian National Earthquake Center reported that a magnitude 6.3 earthquake was felt in several Syrian areas on Monday night.

The report said the earthquake struck at 20:04 pm local time (1704 GMT), adding that the epicenter of the earthquake was the Hatay province in Türkiye.

Reports emerging from Aleppo and Latakia provinces, both were hard hit by the Feb. 6 earthquake, said that there is a state of panic in the two provinces with no immediate reports on losses or possible collapses.

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Türkiye's southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4:17 a.m. local time (0117 GMT), followed by a magnitude 6.4 quake a few minutes later in the country's southern province of Gaziantep and a magnitude 7.6 earthquake at 1:24 p.m. local time (1024 GMT) in the Kahramanmaras Province.