earthquake in Turkey and Syria

A woman stands next to a lamp inside a tent in Antakya, southern Turkey, on Jan. 12.

World News

A year after Turkey's earthquake, hundreds of thousands of people remain in shelters

7:58am February 09, 2024

This week Turkey marked one year since the earthquake that killed more than 53,000 people in the country and left over 3 million homeless. Critics say the government hasn't met its promise to rebuild.

Ibrahim Muslimani, 30, speaks to a class about a piece of music blending different eras and languages at the Nefes Foundation for Arts and Culture, which he founded in 2016, in Gaziantep, Turkey, on Nov. 22, 2022.

A music school uniting Syrian and Turkish cultures survives the massive earthquake

6:01am March 25, 2023

by Fatma Tanis

A handful of students return to a school in Gaziantep, Turkey, that seeks to help revive old Syrian and Turkish music and integrate refugees.

Small vendors sell vegetables and fruits on carts throughout Jableh. Some families here, though, say they often go without breakfast and rely on diets of mainly pita bread, olives, tomatoes and parsley.

World News

Photos show double blow of war and earthquakes in regime-held Syria

8:46am March 04, 2023

by Aya Batrawy

NPR gained rare access to parts of Syria after last month's devastating earthquakes, photographing what life is like for people who were already coping with a years-long civil war.

A view inside what was the dome of the historic Habib-i Najjar Mosque in Antakya.

Turkey's Antakya is in ruins after the quake, erasing cultural and religious heritage

9:48am February 25, 2023

The city of Antakya, known in antiquity as Antioch, was at the crossroads of civilizations for centuries. After the Feb. 6 earthquake, many of its centuries-old monuments and sites lie in ruins.

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A baker fine-tunes the edges of a pan of baklava before it is covered with pastry.

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Baklava took a break in Turkey's pastry capital after the earthquake. Now it's back

4:47pm February 22, 2023

In a city known for its pistachio baklava, a pastry heavyweight turned his family's restaurant into a charity kitchen and shelter after the catastrophic Feb. 6 earthquake.

Ali Kafadenk (left) and his brother, Abdullah, look at the rubble of Ali's apartment in Islahiye, Turkey. Ali and his wife MerveÂ survived the earthquake Feb 6.

World News

One couple's bedroom caved in during the earthquake. Here's how it saved their lives

6:00am February 19, 2023

In the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria, several survivors stayed alive by chance when their collapsed walls provided protection.

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Trucks in an aid convoy cross from Turkey into rebel-held northern Syria through the Bab al-Salama crossing on Feb. 14, after it reopened for U.N. relief.

World News

Aid groups help Turkey-Syria quake survivors amid global crises and donor fatigue

5:03am February 18, 2023

by Aya Batrawy

Appeals for aid to Syria were falling short even before this month. Aid groups are trying to marshal more aid pledges while attention is still on the quakes, but the road to recovery will be long.

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Residents remove their belongings from their destroyed house in Samandag, in southern Turkey, on Thursday. The number of people killed in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria continues to rise.

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11 days after the quake, a few more survivors are pulled from the rubble in Turkey

4:25pm February 17, 2023

by The Associated Press

Even as the death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen to more than 43,000, search teams in southern Turkey have rescued a few people who were trapped in the debris, including a 12-year-old boy.

Yasin Pinarbasi walks into a building he inspected that suffered some earthquake damage, west of Antakya, Turkey.

World News

Is it safe to go home? With hard hats and phone apps, Turkey's engineers seek answers

3:08pm February 17, 2023

NPR follows one of the hundreds of building inspectors in Turkey's earthquake zone to learn about the massive challenge of figuring how who can return to their homes.

Members of a search and rescue operation work Sunday on an area that collapsed during the earthquake in Antakya, in southeastern Turkey. Disaster recovery experts say ordinary people are crucial to saving lives.

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria offers lessons and reminders for disaster response

6:33am February 16, 2023

by Jaclyn Diaz

Even as rescuers rush to arrive, it's often locals who can best offer immediate help, experts say. And they say governments in devastated areas often fail to realize the scope and respond immediately.