A new earthquake shook southeastern Turkey on Monday, killing one person and injuring 69 others after several buildings collapsed, Turkish officials said, quoted by Reuters.

The earthquake comes three weeks after the massive tremors of nearly 8 on the Richter scale on February 6, which killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

There are reports of at least 20 destroyed buildings in the area, which was among the worst hit by two catastrophic earthquakes earlier this month.

Yunus Sezer, head of Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD), told a press conference that search and rescue teams had been sent to five buildings to search for survivors.

The earthquake that struck the southeastern province of Malatya was measured by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) at 5.2 on the Richter scale, while AFAD put it at 5.6.

Monday's tremor was at a depth of 5 km, EMSC noted.

Turkish seismologists have recorded more than 10,000 aftershocks since the massive earthquake earlier this month, with at least 45 measuring between five and six on the Richter scale.

Earlier today it was reported that 188 people were arrested in Turkey on suspicion of complicity in the collapse of buildings due to the powerful earthquakes earlier this month.

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