On 6 February 2023 a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Turkey near the Syrian border, followed nine hours later by a magnitude 7.5 event on a nearby fault. Together they killed around 59,000 people across Turkey and Syria.
The quakes ruptured the East Anatolian Fault over hundreds of kilometres, levelling entire districts. The scale of collapse exposed serious failures in building compliance, and prosecutions followed against contractors and officials.
It was the deadliest earthquake disaster of the decade so far and one of the costliest in history, displacing millions. It renewed global attention on retrofitting older buildings and enforcing seismic codes in high-risk regions.
