Anadolu’s images show debris largely cleared in Türkiye’s earthquake-hit region

By Anadolu staff

GAZIANTEP, Türkiye (AA) - Six months have passed since the devastating twin earthquakes on Feb. 6 caused the collapse of thousands of buildings and resulted in the loss of more than 50,000 lives in southern and southeastern Türkiye.

Anadolu teams captured images of Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Malatya, Adiyaman and Gaziantep's Nurdagi and Islahiye districts, which suffered the most destruction after the earthquakes. When the images taken right after the earthquake are compared with the new images, it is revealed that debris in the earthquake-hit region is largely removed.

- Kahramanmaras

In Kahramanmaras, the earthquake epicenter, 53,035 apartments were destroyed, and 57,702 were severely damaged. Some 20,461 businesses were also affected.

In the city, some 12,659 people lost their lives, and the debris removal work of the ruined and those damaged buildings which were later demolished has been completed. The demolition and debris removal of heavily damaged buildings is ongoing.

- Hatay

After the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes on Feb. 6 and the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Hatay on Feb. 20, the damage assessment studies revealed the extent of the destruction in the province.

The studies found that there were 13,517 destroyed buildings, 8,162 buildings that needed to be demolished and 67,346 heavily damaged structures in the disaster.

In the city, where the debris removal of the ruined and those damaged buildings which were demolished later have been completed, the work of demolishing the heavily damaged buildings and removing the debris continues.

- Malatya

Malatya, one of the provinces most affected by the earthquakes, has 421,616 apartments, out of which 127,293 are identified as collapsed, urgently needing demolition, heavily damaged, or moderately damaged.

Among the 35,680 heavily damaged buildings in Malatya, 2,690 of the 29,764 heavily damaged structures tendered for demolition have been torn down.

The earthquakes, referred to as the "Catastrophe of the Century," caused the destruction of around 20,000 business premises in Malatya, some of which also suffered significant damage.

- Adiyaman

In Adiyaman, 5,953 apartments collapsed, and 20,201 were heavily damaged. Businesses also suffered with 70% either collapsed, heavily damaged, or required demolitions.

While the debris removal work of the destroyed and demolished buildings in the city has been completed, the demolition and debris removal work of the heavily damaged buildings continues.

- Islahiye and Nurdagi

In the earthquakes, 3,919 lives were lost in Gaziantep, with 2,014 in Nurdagi and 1,433 in Ishaliye districts.

Gaziantep had 4,060 collapsed buildings, and over 21,000 were deemed for urgent demolition or labeled heavily/moderately damaged.

Drone footage after six months revealed significant gaps in Nurdagi and Ishaliye, the hardest-hit districts.

On Feb. 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 Turkish provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.

More than 50,000 people were killed in the two powerful earthquakes.

*Writing by Necva Tastan