A 5.9-magnitude earthquake has struck Eastern Turkey, reports "Reuters". According to data from the Turkish Disaster and Emergencies Agency (AFAD), the epicenter of the earthquake was in the province of Malatya. The tremor was also felt in the cities of Kale, Diyarbakır and Elyağı, as quoted by News.bg.
So far, there have been no reports of significant damage or casualties. The European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) put the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.1 on the Richter scale and reported that the depth of the quake was 9 kilometers.
On February 6, 2023, two powerful earthquakes in southern Turkey, measuring 7.9 and 7.4 on the Richter scale, killed more than 50,000 people in 11 provinces and left millions homeless. In response to the disaster, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to build 319,000 new homes by February 2024 and a total of 680,000 by next year.
After the earthquakes, authorities in Turkey launched investigations against more than 600 people for construction-related violations. The damaged or collapsed buildings, numbering around 173,000, have led the public to question the structural safety of many of the construction sites in the affected areas.