How earthquake catastrophe levelled Turkish towns: Stark before and after pictures highlight scale of devastation from 7.8-magnitude tremor
- Turkey and Syria were hit by a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake overnight
- Millennia old buildings collapsed from the quake, which had 40 aftershocks
- 1,600 people are so-far estimated to have died from the immediate damage
Before and after images show the catastrophic effects of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit parts of Turkey and Syria today.
More than 1,700 people have so far been reported dead from the earthquake which rocked eastern Anatolia overnight, bringing down ancient fortresses and reinforced buildings.
News later broke of a second earthquake, which hit at 1:24pm (10:24 GMT), 60 miles north of the first.
Tremors from the first quake could be felt in nearby Lebanon and Cyprus, and as far south as Egypt.
At least 2,818 buildings collapsed as a result of Monday’s quake, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.
Pictures show the effects on the Gaziantep Castle, first built in the second and third century by the Hittite Empire, which arrived in Anatolia in the Bronze Age.
The castle saw nearly two millennia of use as a Roman castle, Ottoman fortress and most recently as a museum, before it was damaged and collapsed in the earthquake this morning.
Apartment blocks home to hundreds of people were pictured levelled, surrounded by debris, as search and rescue teams worked through the morning to pull out trapped residents.
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The historical Yeni Mosque in the large eastern city of Malatya, Turkey, which has been a human settlement for thousands of years (L) and then pictured covered in snow with damage to its domes after the earthquake on 6 February 2023 (R)
The Hittite castle of Gaziantep, built in the 2nd century and used by the Romans, Byzantines and Turkic peoples as a fortress for nearly two millennia, pictured standing (L) and with large damage to its outer walls after the earthquake today (R)
A multistorey residential building in the Turkish city of Gaziantep is photographed in October 2022 (L) and then levelled after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit overnight, today (R)
The Latin church in Iskenderun, the historical city of Alexandretta, in Hatay pictured standing (L) and severely damaged by the quake which shook the region overnight on 6 February (R)
Tall apartment buildings standing in the city of Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey, in 2020 (L) and then surrounded by debris and cleanup crews, with cars under the rubble today (R)
Images show residential buildings in Cukurova district of Adana (L) in April 2021 and a search and rescue mission in the debris of one of the buildings on 6 February 2022 (R)
The Ontur hotel and residential buildings in İskenderun pictured on a sunny November day last year (L) and then the central buildings levelled, except the hotel, after the earthquake (R)
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