A magnitude-7.8 earthquake in the early morning hours of Feb. 6 near the provincial capital city of Gaziantep, Turkey, has leveled hundreds of buildings across the region, and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in that country and Syria. Another destructive temblor nearby rated at magnitude-7.5 followed later in the day. Aftershocks have rattled the region.
As of Feb. 7 there are reports that over 7,200 people in Turkey and Syria are dead as a result of the quakes, and that figure is expected to continue to rise. Thousands of buildings were destroyed—from relatively recently built structures to a 2,000-year-old castle.