Earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters can cause a lot of personal upheaval.
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Food, shelter and medical supplies are important but not the only things that help people get back on their feet.
A view of the destruction in Antakya, Turkey, caused by the recent earthquake.
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A historian of the late Roman world, who visited earthquake-devastated Antakya several times, writes about the city’s rich history and recovery after being devastated in the past.
A woman walks in Raqa, the former Syrian capital of the Islamic State, in December 2020.
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While some world leaders and foreign policy experts expected IS to increase its attacks during COVID-19’s early days, travel bans and curfews helped slow violence.
A depiction of an earthquake in a 14th-century Apocalypse.
British Library
We might expect that accounts of earthquakes from the medieval period have been lost to history, but some have survived.
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Politics stood in the way of a humanitarian response that could have saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.
People warm themselves at a fire in front of buildings destroyed by the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
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The focus of efforts to save the lives of earthquake victims needs to shift to the emerging threats from disease and lack of clean water and shelter.
Worst-hit areas in Turkey were reduced to rubble.
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Turkey has repeatedly attempted to improve its earthquake preparedness. So what went wrong?
Rescue workers continue to clear rubble from collapsed buildings in Antakya, Turkey, six days after two powerful earthquakes caused scores of buildings to collapse.
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The devastating outcomes of earthquakes is worsened when buildings cannot withstand the impact. Also, increased urban density and new construction materials are complicating search-and-rescue efforts.
Lucian of Samosata, a high-ranking Roman official.
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Lucian’s work provides insight into the second-century Roman world, which fostered multilingualism and multiculturalism.
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A cholera outbreak, a harsh winter, ten years of civil war and obstruction from the Syrian government are some of the difficulties faced by aid agencies.
Finally getting through: aid from Iraq for earthquake victims in Syria.
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Damascus is putting politics above its people as it hinders the international aid response.
The remains of the village of Besnaya in Syria, February 7, 2023.
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In a domino effect, earthquakes can cause others to strike: replicas, but also more distant ones.
Devastation: the town of Kahramanmaras in southeastern Turkey on February 8.
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Rescuers are at risk from aftershocks and collapsing buildings, but scientists are working on systems that will minimise ths danger.
The search and rescue operation for survivors in Hatay, Turkey.
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The window of survival after an earthquake is narrow and there are three top priorities for aid workers.
Photo taken in a refugee camp in Somalia in 2019. Somalia tops the list of the world’s most corrupt countries.
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A review of Transparency International’s recently released global corruption ranking confirms that corruption fuels war, and vice versa.
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An earthquake expert explains why the death and devastation have been so terrible in Turkey and Syria
EPA-EFE/Refik Tekin
Disasters such as the earthquake affecting Turkey and Syria are always worse when there is bad blood between the countries involved.
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When Monday’s earthquake struck, many poorly constructed buildings suffered a ‘pancake mode’ collapse.
People search for survivors beneath the rubble in Diyarbakir, Turkey. February 6 2023.
EPA-EFE/Refik Tekin
At least 1,700 people are thought to have died.
Syrian civil defence workers clear an earthquake victim in Zardana, Idlib province, on 6 February.
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Using space imagery can help guide relief efforts to critical areas during a natural disaster.