The deadly and destructive 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck south-eastern Turkey and north-western Syria on Feb.6 was among the most powerful in recent history. The last quake of that magnitude in this region was 83 years ago. This quake killed thousands, injured tens of thousands, and rendered at least a million homeless. The quake levelled residential blocks, tore up roads, flattened public buildings, and attacked the surviving remnants of ancient and medieval civilisations which flourished in the Middle East and shaped the history of all mankind.

While conditions in Turkey, in particular, remain precarious, a spokesman for UNESCO, the global cultural organisation, told Gulf Today, “We are gathering information, but at [this] stage preliminary observations did not report serious damage to World Heritage Sites, and more detailed examinations will be carried out in the forthcoming days. We are monitoring the situation in liaison with the authorities.”

According to UNESCO, World Heritage Sites must be of universal value and meet one or more criteria which makes them exceptional, outstanding, or representative of unique cultural traditions. In Turkey there are 19 properties on the World Heritage List; four in the earthquake zone. In Syria there are six properties, two in the quake zone. Other sites on the tentative UNESCO list are also in the zone as are sites not on this List. Sites must be nominated by their governments for consideration by UNESCO.

The epicentre of the quake was near Turkey’s ancient city of Gaziantep where the walls of the 2,000-year-old castle collapsed. The site began as a Hittite observation post in the 2nd century BC and was transformed into a major fortification by the Byzantines, Umayyads and Ayyubids. This site has not been added to UNESCO’S World Heritage Sites. An Ottoman-era mosque in this area was gutted, two were damaged.

UNESCO, reported that several buildings had collapsed in the ancient Roman fortress of Diyarbakir/Arida. Built in the fourth century AD by the emperor Constantius II, the wall is among the Widest and longest in the world after the Great Wall of China.

The 700-hectare Hevsel Gardens stretching from the early Diyarbakir settlement to the banks of the Tigris River were created in the 9th century BC to provide water and food for resident tribesmen. The fortress and the Gardens have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015. UNESCO has expressed concern over the Neolithic site of Gobekli Tepe in Sanliurfa province. It contains 10,000-year-old circular structures supported by megaliths, huge stone pillars, decorated with symbols of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer religion. German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt believed it is the world’s first known temple although other experts dispute this characterisation.

Assessments must be made of the summit of Mount Nemrut, one of the highest peaks in the Taurus mountains, where massive statues surround the remains of what is believed to be a first century BC royal tomb. Another major site awaiting assessment is Arslantepe Mound, an ancient archaeological site occupied from the 6th millennium BC to the medieval period. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2021.

As the earthquake spent the greatest part of its force in Turkey before shaking neighbouring Syria, the UNESCO Heritage Sites in the northwest appear to have survived.

Damage in Syria is between medium and serious former director of Syria’s antiquities department wrote Dr. Maamoun Abdulkarim who is now professor of archaeology and history at Sharjah University. He said people in the affected area “are looking after their dead, their victims, their wounded. They need many things in their daily lives because the economic situation is tragic in these areas, especially after 12 years of war and economic blockade, and now the earthquake.”

He asked, “Who is free today there to work on cultural heritage? We can’t ask them that.” Dr Abdulkarim has been informed that damage is “moderate” in Aleppo and in the ancient northwest city of Maarat al-Numan where the museum and the Ottoman Khan were impacted.

He said colleagues based near northern Syria’s “Dead Cities,” 700 abandoned Roman and Byzantine settlements, told him there was no damage but “we know that there is destruction in many [modern] villages and towns in that area.”

UNESCO has focused on Syria’s Aleppo, which claims to be the world’s oldest city. UNESCO has reported “significant damage to the walls and towers of the 13th century Aleppo Citadel” and the collapse of the western tower of the city wall. The facade of the National Museum has cracked and there has been some damage in the iconic souqs which were wrecked in the war but are being restored by the Aga Khan Foundation. The silk souq is under renovation but the Ahmadiya souq was open for business in the days before the quake, a colleague who visited Aleppo said. UNESCO is particularly concerned about Aleppo as it has been has been a World Heritage Site since 1986 and has been classified as endangered by conflict since 2013.

UNESCO has reported collapses of the 12th century Norias, the massive wooden water wheels. They have long been symbols of the north-western city of Hama, which suffered little destruction during the war. The Crusaders Citadel City in Tartous province has also been damaged.

For war-weary, sanctions-ridden Syrians, Aleppo and its Citadel, the Norias of Hama, the country’s “Dead Cities,” Crusader castles and other ancient and medieval treasures provide historical continuity and serve as proofs of their stewardship of al-Sham. Damage and destruction inflicted on these cultural icons wounds Syrian souls.

A Syrian friend said people have endured war for many years and tried to protect their land. “We have clung to the earth of Syria so as not to lose our homeland.” Now, he stated, the earth itself had turned against the people who had tried so hard to protect it. “How are we to understand this,” he asked. “After the war, after the economic blockade, after the attacks on Syria from abroad – now our earth is killing us. Why?”