Two people have lost their lives and 140 others were injured in the magnitude 5.6 earthquake that occurred in Malatya's Yeşilyurt district Monday, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) announced Tuesday morning.
"After the aftershock with a magnitude of 5.6 in Malatya Yeşilyurt, 32 of our citizens have been rescued from the debris as of now. Two of our citizens have lost their lives. 140 others were injured, 12 of them seriously, and the treatment of 40 of our citizens continues,'' read the AFAD statement.
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook Türkiye's Malatya province on Monday, AFAD said.
The quake occurred at a depth of 6.96 kilometers (4.32 miles) at 12:04 p.m. local time (9:04 a.m. GMT), centered in the Yeşilyurt district of the city.
In the statement following the quake, AFAD head Yunus Sezer noted that one citizen was dead, while 69 were injured during the tremor. Sezer, however, later in the day stated that the number of injured had risen to 110, while 32 citizens were rescued after the new earthquake.
"Some of them were admitted to hospitals after being injured by the wreckage, and some have visited hospitals related to the trauma experienced after the aftershock. Our intensive search and rescue efforts continue. Both our search and rescue personnel in Malatya and the search and rescue personnel we have reinforced from the surrounding provinces consisting of 657 people are actively continuing the search and rescue," he said.
Following the works of teams on the field, Sezer noted that the number of buildings destroyed in the earthquake in Malatya was determined as 29.
Right after the earthquake, the AFAD warned citizens who rushed to the streets to stay far from demolished structures and not to enter damaged buildings. It was also said that apart from Malatya, the earthquake was felt in surrounding provinces, including Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa.
In a joint news conference with Sezer, Orhan Tatar, general manager of the AFAD, stated that the region has very unusual earthquake activity. ''A total of 10,282 aftershocks have occurred so far. This is a huge number,'' he said, noting that the earthquake activity measured in the past six months was registered in the last three weeks due to these earthquakes.
The earthquake comes as Türkiye grapples with the aftermath of the deadly twin Feb. 6 quakes that devastated the southeastern region and left over 44,000 people dead.