Another powerful earthquake of 7.6 magnitude strikes Turkey 

Another massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the Elbistan district in Turkey's Kahramanmaras province on Monday, the Turkish Disaster and Management Authority said. Fresh tremors were also felt in Damascus, Latakia, and other Syrian provinces, Syria's SANA news agency reported. The US Geological Survey said it measured the strength of the second earthquake to be 7.5 magnitudes, higher than the first one that struck in the early hours of Monday.

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The first earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred in southern Turkey near the northern border of Syria at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) on Monday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 18 km (11 miles), causing extensive damage to properties and significant casualties. This earthquake was followed 11 minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake resulted from strike-slip faulting at shallow depths, the USGS said.

The earthquake appeared to be associated with either the East Anatolia fault zone or the Dead Sea transform fault zone. The region where this earthquake occurred is known to be seismically active, the US department said, adding that three earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger have occurred in this region since 1970. The largest, a magnitude of 6.7, occurred on January 24, 2020. All of these earthquakes happened along or in the vicinity of the East Anatolia fault.

The first strong earthquake has killed more than 1,200 people and injured thousands more in south-eastern Turkey and north-western Syria, BBC reported. The epicenter of this major quake was near the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, but the tremors were felt across Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Israel.