The Turkish Center for Satellite Communications and Remote Sensing of Istanbul Technical University revealed, via satellite, the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, last Monday.
Two earthquakes of magnitude 8.7 and 7.6 struck the regions of Pazargık and Albistan in the state of Kahramanmaraş in southern Turkey, leaving great destruction in the regions of Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adi Yaman, Osmaniye, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya and Elazig.
The satellites of the ground station of the Turkish Center for Satellite Communications and Remote Sensing monitored the effects of the devastation caused by the two earthquakes and aftershocks that also hit Syria.
Massive destruction
By means of satellites, data related to the areas devastated by the earthquake were recorded, while it was noted that the debris and rubble caused by the disaster blocked the main roads in some areas of the Nordağı region.
The satellites also monitored the rescue efforts and the removal of rubble taking place in the affected areas, and the locations of the tents set up by the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) in different places were determined via satellites.
The pictures showed, according to the Turkish “Anatolia” news agency, that nearly 100 buildings in the Nordağı district, and 150 buildings in the Islahiya district of Gaziantep state, were damaged by the earthquake.
Satellite images also clearly showed the destruction in Hatay, where there are many destroyed buildings, in addition to demolished buildings and closed roads in the Qarqakhan district of the state, and the Turkoglu district of Kahramanmaraş.
satellite information
In an interview with Anadolu Agency, the deputy director of the Turkish Center for Satellite Communications and Remote Sensing, Nabiyeh Musa Oglu, said that the center has important capabilities to monitor changes in the geography through the use of satellite images and the processing of relevant data.
She added, “We provide data from different satellites, and process them to contribute to providing the necessary information and data for various studies, especially since remote sensing data is an indispensable resource for information, especially when it comes to large geographical areas.”
According to the Turkish Academy, immediately after the two earthquakes occurred in southern Turkey on February 6, the center began monitoring the areas affected by the disaster, despite the cloudy weather conditions there at that time.
She indicated that the center began receiving data and conducting studies to identify damaged and intact buildings, using various image processing techniques and artificial intelligence techniques.
And she added, “There are many damaged buildings. We see that the destruction is relatively less in Adana, while we can clearly identify through the pictures the damaged and intact buildings.”
