Earthquake aftershocks hit Hama in western Syria

Aftershocks struck the city of Hama in western Syria on Tuesday as the clean-up began after a 4.8 magnitude earthquake the night before.

About 65 people were injured as they fled in panic after the quake, nearly 70 received hospital treatment for shock, and the tremors were felt across Jordan and Lebanon.

“My son was sleeping, I don’t know how I grabbed him and got out of the house,” said Nasser Duyub, a state employee in Salamiya, 30 km east of Hama city.

Jordan reported a 3.9 magnitude aftershock less than an hour after the initial quake, and Syria’s National Earthquake Center said monitoring stations recorded 13 tremors east of Hama city until Tuesday morning.

Many people in Syria and Lebanon thought the initial quake was an Israeli airstrike. In Syria, others had flashbacks to February 2023, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 50,000 people — mostly in Turkiye, but thousands also died in northern Syria. That earthquake caused widespread destruction in both countries.

“It was the same sound, as if it was coming out of the earth,” said Umm Hamzah, who lives in Damascus. “I got dizzy just like last time, but the scare was worse because I knew what happened in the previous quake.”