Fayzabad [Afghanistan]: An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 struck 135 km south-southeast of Fayzabad, Afghanistan at 6.47 am on Monday, according to the National Center for Seismology (NCS). This is the second quake to have rocked the country within a month.
Earlier on January 22, an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 took place 79 km south-southeast of Fayzabad, Afghanistan at 9:04 am IST on Sunday, according to the National Center for Seismology (NCS). This comes at a time when the world is yet to recover from the Turkey-Syria earthquake, which occurred last week.
The death toll from the twin earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria climbed to 29,605 and 1,414 respectively. The number of wounded crossed the 80,000 mark in Turkey and rose to 2,349 in Syria, as per official figures released on Sunday. The catastrophic earthquakes have razed over 20,000 buildings across the 10 badly hit areas.
Also read: Earthquake death toll across Turkey-Syria crosses 34,000
With rescue operations underway, thousands of rescuers continued to search for any sign of life in collapsed multi-storey buildings on the seventh day of the disaster. With hopes for finding alive survivors slowly fading, the teams still managed some incredible rescues. Foreign heads of state and ministers have shown solidarity with Turkey and Syria in the wake of the national calamity it is currently facing.
Amid the rescue operations, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that an arrest warrant against faulty contractors was issued. He said that arrest warrants were issued for 134 suspects involved in the faulty construction of buildings that collapsed in the earthquakes.
Meanwhile, Yavuz Karakus and Sevilay Karakus, contractors of many buildings destroyed in the earthquake in southern Adiyaman province, were detained at Istanbul Airport while trying to escape to Georgia. (With agency inputs)
