Turkey, Syria earthquake: Before and after photos of worst-hit websites

India Today traces the numerous websites broken within the aftermath of a sequence of earthquakes in Turkey and throughout the border in Syria. Photographs and movies shared on social media confirmed destroyed buildings and cultural spots as rescue groups searched via piles of rubble for survivors.

Civil defence employees and residents search via the rubble within the city of Harem, close to the Turkish border, in Syria’s Idlib province (Photo: AP)

By Bidisha Saha, Dipti Yadav: In the early hours of Monday morning, Turkey and Syria witnessed a catastrophic earthquake that shook huge swaths of neighbouring lands, affecting tens of millions, claiming hundreds of lives, and inflicting huge harm to infrastructure.

Social media is flooded with pictures and movies of mass destruction exhibiting collapsed buildings, crushed vehicles, and emergency providers performing rescue and restoration operations in freezing temperatures after the traditional metropolis was lowered to piles of rubble. Further elevating the wrath of a brand new humanitarian catastrophe in an space of the world already within the grip of disaster after being rattled by conflict, a refugee disaster, and deep financial troubles.

The 7.8-magnitude quake with its epicentre at Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, felt a sequence of aftershocks and was among the many largest ever recorded within the seismic zone. It knocked down an lively faultline often called the Anatolian Tectonic Fault. The first one got here earlier than the break of daybreak and is probably the most highly effective earthquake recorded in Turkey in over a century. Buildings had been flattened, and folks sleeping of their properties had been buried below the particles. To compound the troubles, later within the day, a second earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale affected components of southern Turkey and northwestern Syria.

Syria and Turkey are deemed as “cradles of human civilisation” and are residence to a number of the world’s most treasured relics of antiquity, boasting a number of Unesco World Heritage Sites, together with the traditional citadel of Aleppo. India Today maps the worst-affected areas of injury, elevating considerations that the 2 earthquakes that struck on Monday might have broken different priceless monuments in culturally wealthy areas.

Read | Turkey-Syria earthquake: Double whammy for border area wrecked by years of civil conflict

Damage to Gaziantep Castle

Pictures on social media of Gaziantep Castle, certainly one of Turkey’s best-preserved citadels, present that the partitions of the practically 2,000-year-old fort constructed throughout the Roman Empire have collapsed. It was used as a watchtower within the Hittite empire and later expanded right into a citadel.

“Some of the bastions in the east, south, and south-east parts” had been destroyed, and the particles was scattered on the highway, a Turkish state-run information company reported.

Destruction at MaraÅŸ Grand Mosque

The historic mosque in KahramanmaraÅŸ metropolis, which was constructed by Süleyman of Dulkadirids and is at the very least 580 years outdated, was rocked by the quake, inflicting extreme harm to the minaret’s roof, which was intricately embellished with ceramic tiles, as seen in photos on Twitter.

Downed Malatya Yeni Camii

The historic Yeni Camii, which implies New Mosque, is positioned within the metropolis of Türkiye’s southeastern Malatya within the Pazarck district of KahramanmaraÅŸ. The mosque, which has been standing for greater than 100 years, was closely broken within the earthquake.

Ancient Citadel of Syria’s Aleppo destroyed

A United Nations World Heritage Site, Aleppo Citadel, a big medieval fortified palace within the centre of the town in northern Syria, has been severely broken. Pictures on Twitter present the partitions of the palace tumbled down. “Part of the northeastern defence wall, the dome of the lighthouse of the mosque, and the entrance are among the damaged,” experiences a Syrian information outlet, SANA.

Antakya Hatay Airport

Hours after the second earthquake hit Turkey, the runway of Hatay International Airport was ravaged into two splits, resulting in its closure. The airport’s solely runway was left utterly unusable, and all flights had been suspended after the tarmac was cut up into two.

Read | 15 highly effective photographs present devastation in Turkey after lethal tremors

Antioch-Rehaniyya Road

Another roadway incurred huge cracks, resulting in a disruption of automobiles and logistics in Turkey within the aftermath of the quake.

Social media movies present huge destruction to medium- and high-rise buildings that are actually flattened after the earthquake. Major destruction of buildings might be geolocated to Maltaya, Gaziantep, Diyarbakır and likewise within the neighbouring areas.

There are experiences from the Syrian information outlet SANA, of the big destruction of Ayyubid Mosque: “large parts of the dome of Ayyubid mosque’s lighthouse fell, the entrances to the citadel were damaged, and parts of the stones fell, including the entrance to the Mamluk defensive tower, in addition to some damage to the facade of the Ottoman hospice.”

There are additionally mentions of injury to Imam Ismail Mosque, however resulting from an absence of visible proof for the time being, this can’t be verified.At least 45 international locations have poured of their assist for the 2 middle-eastern international locations in despair after Turkish authorities declared a “level 4 alarm” calling for worldwide help.

India additionally despatched its first consignment of aid supplies to Turkey on Tuesday. The aid crew included NDRF search and rescue groups, specifically educated canine squads, medical provides, drilling machines, and different obligatory tools. Following that, two IAF C-17s carrying 89 Army Medical Corps (AMC) personnel from the Agra-based discipline hospital had been dispatched to supply medical help to disaster-stricken Turkey.

Read | Miracle child born below particles as dad and mom killed in Turkey-Syria earthquake

Published On:

Feb 7, 2023