NASA captures in satellite images damage in Turkey by earthquake

The POT published a map made with satellite images of all damage in Turkey for the earthquakes, given the magnitude of the effects that have left more than 19,000 dead in the country.

The cartography, prepared by scientists from space agencies around the world, shows the impacts on buildings and real estate in the cities of Türkoğlu, Kahramanmaraş and Nurdaği.

Dark red pixels represent areas likely to report serious damage to buildings, homes and infrastructure, or changes to the landscape. In turn, the orange and yellow areas have moderate or partial damage. Each pixel is about 30 meters wide, that is, about the size of a baseball field.

“The rupture length and magnitude of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake was similar to the 1906 quake that destroyed San Franciscosaid Eric Fielding, a geophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

According to the US space agency, the earthquakes affected hundreds of kilometers around the epicenter. The researchers explained that this was because the initial earthquake emanated from a fault line 18 kilometers below the earth's surface. The shallow produced "a violent shock" that reached very distant areas.

Added to this, the first event was followed by a second magnitude 7.5 event around nine hours later, as well as hundreds of smaller aftershocks.

The map was made with data collected by the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) on February 8, 2023. This satellite sends microwave pulses towards the surface of the Land and captures the bounce of these waves to map the landscape, including buildings.

The information collected last Wednesday was contrasted with observations made with the same instrument on April 7, 2021 and April 6, 2022, dates prior to the earthquakes. This in order to track changes and identify damaged areas.

However, the published map only contemplates partial areas of the three mentioned cities, and not the entire country. Likewise, the effects in Syria have not been studied either.

NASA scientists, along with national and international partners, as well as organizations such as the US Department of State, the Commission on Earthquake Safety, Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief and the World Bank, they are conducting more extensive mapping in order to assess risks and implement recovery efforts.

“In addition to mapping the damage caused where possible, we are using the satellites to track the increased risks of landslides, power outages and weather that could pose challenges for response efforts,” said Shanna McClain, program manager.

More than 22,000 people have died from the earthquakes, of which almost 19,400 have lost their lives in TurkeyMeanwhile in Syria fatalities amount to 3 thousand 384. Likewise, the wounded add up to the least 75 thousand in both nations, according to EFE figures. Furthermore, it is estimated that almost 6,500 buildings have collapsed.

During the early hours of the morning, the emergency services continued to rescue people from under the rubble nearly 100 hours after the earthquakes, an increasingly complicated task since the standard time that a human being can remain without the intake of water or food in disasters like this it is 72 hours, the news agency detailed.

Given this, at least 97 countries have sent humanitarian aid. In total, on the ground there are some 6,810 people collaborating from other nations.