Earthquake disaster: one of the world’s oldest destroyed mosques

About 47,000 people died and many historical sites were destroyed after the catastrophic earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 this year.

One of the oldest mosques in the world – the Habib Najjar Mosque – in the Turkish city of Antakya was completely destroyed.

Muhammad Ismat survived the earthquake, and has now moved to the ruins of the mosque.

– As now, ten years is not enough to build a city. The country simply went away. It takes a lot of time and money, he told Reuters, and continues:

Every day they dig up 20-30 bodies. All people cry from the bottom of their hearts. They are very sad, very sad.

It was rebuilt in the nineteenth century

The city of Antakya was founded in 300 BC. It was a crossroads of several cultures and religions. Over the centuries, the Habib Najjar Mosque has been destroyed several times, most recently in 1853 – also after an earthquake.

Many now believe that buildings in Turkey and Syria should have withstood the earthquake better, and a number of building contractors across the region are accused of construction fraud. Many are being investigated by the police, and Bulent Çifışvili, an Antakya resident, believes that it is precisely the fraudulent construction that is the reason his hometown is now in ruins.

– The ethnic masses that are here are caused by man. They are not built properly. If they did, Bulent Chivsevli told Reuters, some homes would still be left abandoned, adding:

– It belongs to history. And now the story is gone too.