The major cities affected by the Kahramanmaras earthquake were Adıyaman, Kilis, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, as well as Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Adana and Hatay. In these areas, “13.5 million people reside including 2 million Syrian refugees”. Turkey is an active area for earthquakes as there are three tectonic plates: the Anatolia, Arabia, and Africa plates. Due to its location, thousands of earthquakes of various magnitudes happen each year.

Our study focuses on the border of Turkey and Syria. Our major region of interest is Aleppo, Syria. Located in the northwestern part of the country, it is the second most populous city with approximately 2 million residents and is home to many historic buildings, such as the Citadel of Aleppo. We also focused on the coastal towns of Iskenderun, Karayilan, and Samandag, Turkey. High resolution imagery was used to assess building damages in Kahramanmaras and Nurdagi as well.