Visual coverage of post-state-of-emergency of Turkey-Syria earthquake 2023

Image 1 Representation of the first earthquake

Image 2 Representation of the second earthquake

1. Background Information on Turkey - Syria Earthquake

On Monday, February 6, 2023 at 04:17 a.m. local time (01:17 UTC), a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. 12 hours after the first seismic movement, at 1:32 p.m. local time (10:32 UTC), another 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit, located around 95 kilometres to the southwest.

1) Location

In Turkey, the earthquakes affected the densely populated cities of Gaziantep and Adana, as well as the surrounding cities of Hatay, Malatya, Kilis, Diyarbakir and Adiyaman. Approximately 14 million people live in this area, including 2 million Syrian refugees.

In Syria, cities such of Aleppo, Hama, Lattakia, Tartous and Idlib were the most affected. The total number of inhabitants in this area corresponds to 6.6 million people.

2) Death toll and victims

According to the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) website, the earthquake has claimed more than 50,000 lives in both Turkey and Syria. The death toll in Turkey reached 48,448 people, while 5,954 people died in Syria from the tragedy that was claimed to be one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.

In Turkey, it is estimated that 3.3 million people were displaced after the earthquake. While in Syria, 8.8 million were displaced which involved 392,000 families in an area of which the population has been requiring assistance even before the earthquake. It is said that more than 15 million people needed help prior to the earthquake.

As of June 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 1.6 million are still residing at temporary settlements, of which half of them were women and girls. People who were displaced from their homes were placed in approximately 800,000 formal sites.

Apart from that, more than 9.1 million people were directly affected by the earthquake, of which 1.7 million of them are Syrian refugees in Turkey Aftermath.

3) Aftermath

Thousands of buildings were destroyed, including hospitals and schools. UNICEF said more than 2,100 schools were impacted by the earthquakes. It’s been reported that eighty hospitals and healthcare facilities were damaged in both countries. It is estimated that the earthquake left 2 million people homeless, and this was considered the deadliest natural disaster in the region.

According to the Ministry of Interior, Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), the region has been rocked by over 9,000 aftershocks since the incident. Besides the aftershocks, other secondary impacts like insufficient shelter, extreme winter conditions, shortages in power and fuel supplies as well as damage in water networks contributed to an even higher number of deaths and displacement.

4) State of emergency

On Feb 7, 2023, President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency for a three-month period in the southern part of the country following the earthquake with a climbing death toll, at the time.

According to Turkey’s Presidency Office, the state-of-emergency was announced in order to facilitate the search and rescue operations and to ensure the process was done in timely manner.

The state of emergency was applied to 10 provinces in the south of Turkey which includes Kahramanmaras, Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa

5) Turkish General Election 2023

By the time the state of emergency ended in April 2023, Turkey was in preparation for its general election. The decision to call for an early election was announced by Erdogan on March 10, 2023 despite the ongoing process of re-development and re-building of lives in southern Turkey due to the massive earthquake.

The Supreme Election Board (SEB), a constitutional organisation that is managing the regulation and supervision of public elections in Turkey have decided for the parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on May 14,2023 while the presidential runoff to be conducted two weeks after the first one, on May 28, 2023.

Election outcome

Leading up to the election, there were two main parties that have contested in the race. Erdogan from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is running against the main opposition candidate from Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Erdogan, won the election after the presidential run-off with 52.14 per cent of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu received 47.86 per cent of the votes. Erdogan continues to rule Turkey after 20 years of administering the country.

2. Timeline of Coverage

	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September
SCMP	70	6	1	1	2	2	2	0
Al-Jazeera	145	30	4	7	0	0	13	1
BBC	127	14	2	2	0	1	4	0
The Globe and Mail	82	17	12	9	2	1	1	0

Image 3: Numbers of Stories by Media Outlets since the earthquake by table

Image 4 Numbers of Stories by Media Outlets since the earthquake by line

Starting from March 2023, there has been a notable reduction in media coverage of the Turkey-Syria earthquake. The recovery of local life led to changes in both the content and methods of coverage. In May, just before the elections, the state of emergency in Turkey came to an end. The period from May to September was opted for analysis, to assess how the different media outlets employed visual elements to address post-state-of-emergency issues during this timeframe.

3. Media Outlets Background

The variations in visual coverage of the post-state-of-emergency of Turkey-Syria earthquake was examined through selected news outlets such as South China Morning Post (SCMP) and Al-Jazeera as representatives of Eastern media, and BBC and CBC as representatives of Western media.

1) South China Morning Post

The South China Morning Post (SCMP), an English-language newspaper based in Hong Kong and owned by the Alibaba Group was founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham. It was said that their vision is to Elevate Thought, and their mission is to Lead the Global Conversation about China. The SCMP coverage is categorised into four main areas: China Coverage, Hong Kong Coverage, Business Coverage, and Asia/World Coverage. For the analysis of the Turkish earthquake, we have selected SCMP as a representative of Eastern media to observe the frame of an East Asian media in visual reporting.

2) Al-Jazeera

According to its website, Al-Jazeera was established in November 1996 in the capital city of Qatar, Doha, by the then Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. It was said that establishing the news network was in place of abolishing Qatar’s Ministry of Information. It was deemed the first independent Arab news channel in the Arab world, as other Arabic news channel around that time was considered part of state propaganda, and a government official was the only source of information.

Despite claiming to be an independent news network, some media scholars put Al-Jazeera in the semi-independent category. The Qatari Emir has funded the news outlet, and many have questioned its independence level. Al-Jazeera covered extensively any news, especially within the region, nonetheless, the extension of the coverage does not include its own country. The focus of the network’s coverage is to shed light on places that were dismissed by the Western media after it opened up four broadcasting centres, including Qatar, the UK, Malaysia and the US. Al Jazeera also has over 70 bureaus all over the world.

3) The BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster headquartered in London. It was founded in 1922. The BBC is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world. Its mission, as they claim, is to “enrich people’s lives with programs that inform, educate and entertain. Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest. Audiences are at the heart of everything we do.”

The BBC was established by a Royal Chartera formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent—and funded by the licence fee that is paid by UK households.The BBC uses the income from the licence fee to provide services including eight national TV channels plus regional programming, 10 national radio stations, 40 local radio stations and an extensive website, bbc.co.uk.

BBC World Service broadcasts to the world on radio, on TV and online, providing news and information in 32 languages. It is funded by a government grant, not from the licence fee.

The current director-general of BBC is Tim Davie, the 17th Director-General of the BBC, succeeding Tony Hall in September 2020. The Director-General is the Chief Executive Officer of the BBC, the editorial, operational and creative leader of the BBC, with responsibility for a global workforce running services across television, radio and online. Here we focus on the news coverage of the Turkey-Syria earthquake from May to October by BBC.com.

4) The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail was founded in 1844 with headquarters in Toronto, Canada. According to the Canadian sociologist Elke Winter, it’s politically considered moderately conservative and is less socially liberal than its main competitor, the Toronto Star. The Globe and Mail reaches over 6 million readers/weekly with their print and digital formats. Their “Report on Business” magazine reaches over 2.5 million readers/issue in print and digital formats.

4. Visual Statistics

Image 6 Number of Visuals Used Post-state of Emergency by Column

	Images	Videos	Graphics	Total Visuals	Visuals used per story
SCMP	18	5	0	23	3.29
Al-Jazeera	55	9	4	68	3.24
BBC	33	1	0	34	4.86
The Globe and Mail	25	0	0	25	1.92

Image 5 Number of Visuals Used Post-state of Emergency by Table

1) South China Morning Post

SCMP has incorporated a total of 23 visual elements into its content.

The ways of visualization in the story (images, videos, graphics etc.)

Image 7 Proportion of SCMP’s visual methods in stories

The primary visual elements employed in the content are images, constituting 78 percent of the total, with a notable inclusion of a caricature. The remaining 22 percent comprises videos.

One of the most visually impactful stories was published on August 5th and centred around the endeavours of Chinese researchers in earthquake prediction. This report is distinguished by the incorporation of three videos illustrating the aftermath and devastation caused by earthquakes. These videos encompass aerial footage showcasing the extent of earthquake damage in Turkey and Syria, footage recorded by individuals fleeing collapsing buildings during a second deadly earthquake in Turkey, and an interview with a survivor from Pakistan, shedding light on the impact in South Asia.

The subject of visual images and video (Political actor, construction, people: people who survived the earthquake)

Out of the 23 visuals used in the content. Eight visuals feature rescue teams, making up 36 per cent of the total. Seven visuals are related to disaster sites, accounting for 32 per cent. Six visuals depict local residents, comprising 27 per cent. Lastly, there is one picture featuring Hong Kong's chief executive, John Lee.

2) Al-Jazeera

The total visuals that were included in its news reports amounted to 68, which consisted of photos, graphics, podcasts, and videos. Al-Jazeera has created a section that gathers all stories related to the earthquake called ‘Turkey-Syria Earthquake’.

Image 8 Proportion of AI-Jazeera’s visual methods in stories

The ways of visualization in the story (images, videos, graphics etc.)

81 per cent of photos and images dominated Al-Jazeera’s editorial decision to include it in 13 of its news reports relating to the post-earthquake in both countries. The news outlets also featured nine videos in their reporting, and not to mention four graphics were embedded in some of its news reports or features.

Apart from regular news reports, Al-Jazeera also featured news reports with more visual elements of a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 14 photos. The news outlet classified it as the ‘Gallery’. The report incorporated short news that entails the details of the photos. Overall, two reports highlighted the plight of the earthquake’s victims, where one focused on the livelihood of a Turkish family at displacement camp and another one focused on children and their toys, six months after the massive earthquake.

The subject of visuals (Political actor, construction, people: people who survived the earthquake)

From the period of May to September 2023 (which is the last report on the earthquake), Al-Jazeera mostly reported on the lives that were affected by the earthquake. Therefore, the subject that was in focus for its visual elements within that period centred around people who survived the tragedy, followed by humanitarian aid, construction and political actors.

As for videos, the same can be interpreted as most of Al-Jazeera’s videos highlighted the stories of victims who were involved in the tragedy in both Turkey and Syria. Three elements became the main subjects in its videos. Naturally, since most of its news reports focus on the people living at a displacement camp, humanitarian aid and construction are also part of the subjects that became the focus of Al-Jazeera’s video. This is evident in videos that were part of this news story.

3) The BBC

Image 9 Proportion of BBC’s visual methods in stories

The BBC used a total of 35 images in the 10 stories that mentioned the Turkey-Syria earthquakes of 2023 in the post state of emergency period until October 2023.

The ways of visualizations in the story (images, videos, graphics etc.)

The BBC used images, sounds and videos.

The subject of visuals (Political actor, construction, people: people who survived the earthquake)

Out of 35 visuals used by the BBC, one was a video of an interview with the partner of a footballer killed in the quake and one was a podcast telling the story of a survivor of the quake looking for his lost son. Out of 33 pictures, three pictures were those from piles of rubble left after the quake, 14 of the photos (42.5%) were of the survivors, two were pictures showing reconstruction process, one was a picture of the late footballer, three were pictures of President Erdogan, two were photos of opposition presidential candidate, three were pictures of voters and polling stations, two were images from Google Earth showing the epicentre of earthquakes, one picture of phone screen of quake alert, one was a picture of an expert and one picture of a cemetery.

4) The Globe and Mail

Image 10 Proportion of The Globe and Mail’s visual methods in stories

The Globe and Mail used a total of 25 images in the 13 stories that mentioned the Turkey-Syria earthquakes of 2023 in the post state of emergency period until October 2023.

The ways of visualizations in the story (images, videos, graphics etc.)

The Globe and Mail only used images in their stories.

The subject of visuals (Political actor, construction, people: people who survived the earthquake)

Twenty-one of the 25 images (84%) were showing polling stations, the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, diplomatic encounters, and manifestations pro and against the government. One image was showing a damaged building and 3 images showed humanitarian aid. It’s worth mentioning that one of the humanitarian aid images was used in two different stories. It is a picture of a convoy carrying humanitarian aid arriving in Syria on July 10, 2023.

5. Visual Framing Analysis

	Reconstructions	Refugees	Humanitarian Aid	Political	Damages	Others
SCMP	2	2	6	2	6	3
Al-Jazeera	2	6	4	2	3	17
BBC	1	0	0	9	7	18
The Globe and Mail	0	0	3	21	1	0

Image 11 Frames of Visualization by Media Outlets

Image 12 Frames of Visualization by Media Outlets by Radar

1) South China Morning Post

Image 13 The Hong Kong team spent nine days on a rescue mission in Turkey. Photo: FSD

Dominant visual framing

In the post-state-of-emergency of Turkey-Syria earthquake coverage, SCMP featured a substantial number of articles focusing on the Hong Kong rescue teams dispatched to the affected area. These articles highlighted their achievements during the rescue operations, the challenges they faced throughout their mission, and the recognition and praise they received upon their return to Hong Kong. In terms of visual content accompanying these stories, a significant portion (approximately 52 per cent) prominently depicted the extent of the earthquake's damage, along with the humanitarian aid undertaken by the rescue teams.

Visual role in stories

Such visual elements captured the harsh conditions at the rescue site, providing a vivid representation of the challenging circumstances the rescue workers faced. Additionally, they served to underscore the commendable and heroic image of the rescue teams, showcasing their dedication and determination in the face of adversity.

2) Al-Jazeera

Dominant visual framing

Image 14 Displaced victims talking to each other outside of their tents in Masal Park, Gaziantep.

The most dominant visual framings that emerged from all 13 stories from Al-Jazeera are refugees, humanitarian aid and damages occurred from the earthquake. The refugees in this case are people who may not have the refugee status before, but became refugees after the tragedy, people who have been refugees even before the earthquake, mainly because most of the photographs were shot in or outside of displacement camp’s tents, which can be seen in the story about the Turkish family who were displaced even after six months after the earthquake.

Another story that particularly captures the refugees' framing is the one that highlighted hygiene concerns for victims at the refugee centres in both countries. The story was published on 6 Aug 2023, and used a compelling photo of the action of passing bottles of clean water from the truck by aid workers. The rest of the story included a couple of videos that highlighted the plight of those who were displaced in the search for proper medical care and clean water.

Image 15 Poster of Turkish opposition party, CHP in Antakya post earthquake.

Apparently, some of the stories involving refugees also contain visuals that would have humanitarian framing in it to provide context on the dependency of aids by people who are now displaced from their homes, such as the video in one of its report that focused on the healthcare services set up by the Hatay Medical Chamber to facilitate medical services to those who are living in accommodation.

Along with that, there were also stories that incorporated visuals with the framing of damages and reconstruction. Both of these framing are inter-related in the visuals that were presented by Al-Jazeera. This is evident in the story that highlighted the preparation involved in Antakya for Turkey’s general election.

The remaining of the framing consists of a political frame, which consists of visual images of political actors who were the contenders of Turkey’s general election in 2023, including Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The story about the election was categorized under the ‘Turkey-Syria Earthquake’ category due to how the Erdogan administered the country after the country’s economy became worse after the earthquake and how it is affecting Turkey’s policies. Interestingly, this is the only story from Al-Jazeera that featured graphic images to highlight background and information about the candidates who contended in the presidential election.

Image 16 Turkish mother prepare a bottle for her daughter at the tent city in Masal Park.

Visual role in stories

Most visuals that Al-Jazeera presented in its report are meant to capture the emotional impact of the story, provided that most of the subjects in the images are people who were affected. The photos are intended to show the condition of the people post- earthquake who still do not have a permanent place to call home even for Turkish citizens, let alone refugees.

Image 17 Rows of trucks carrying humanitarian aid parked at the border of Turkey-Syria.

With that, the visuals of humanitarian aid is believed to enhance the impact of the story especially when the report is about the scarcity of international assistance for Syria particularly for healthcare sector in Northern Syria. Another story that includes photos of humanitarian aid framing is about the extension of permission for the United Nations to deliver aid to opposition-controlled areas via two Turkish border crossings for another three months. The photos certainly help readers to see the necessity of humanitarian aid to be able to be delivered to the opposition-controlled area, as the editorial team at Al-Jazeera communicated it through a photo that shows multiple trucks that were parked at Bab al-Hawa crossing in Syria.

In conclusion, Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the earthquake after the state-of-emergency declaration, largely focused on the update of the victims and the concerns that especially relate to basic human rights like clean water, and healthcare that are perceived to be dire in both countries. Much of its coverage included visual elements that support the main story that it is trying to convey. The photo galleries that were featured in news story form, is effective in telling a story about the life of a Turkish family who was displaced and lived in a tent. The images were arranged, as if readers were flipping a book that clearly tells the story of how the family called the Suzers lived their life three months after the earthquake. Al-Jazeera also focused a lot on the coverage of the humanitarian

3) The BBC  

Dominant visual framing

The dominant framings of BBC stories were spectacle (sensational, dramatic and individualistic narratives) and debate.

Image 18 Christian Atsu was known as 'father' by some of the children he supported in his native Ghana

The sports stories, both published on August 14, were an exclusive interview with BBC Radio 5 Live with Marie-Claire Rupio, partner of Christian Atsu, the former Newcastle United and Ghana midfielder, who lost his life in the earthquake. One of the stories was a 01:55-minute video of the interview titled “Christian Atsu’s partner on how telling three children about their father's death was ‘not easy’ and the other one was the article extracted from the interview headlined “Christian Atsu’s partner ‘hopes his name will never go away' after losing life in Turkey earthquakes”.  The latter included the video as well and a picture of Atsu with a several cheery children. The caption of the picture reads, “Christian Atsu was known as ‘father’ by some of the children he supported in his native Ghana.” The framing of this story was individualistic narrative.

Image 19 Hulya Yesiloglu (left) bakes flatbreads with her wood-burning oven - the only part of her home that survived

On August 7th, a 1,000-word article was published with the headline of “Families in Turkey’s quake cities battle dust and rubble six months on”. The article included five chronicled images. The first picture was probably taken within a couple of days after the quake hit. It shows a young woman walking through rubbles. The second image shows two women baking flatbreads with a wood-burning oven—the only part of their home that survived. The third image depicts a man lunch in the shade of a tree after the family home was badly damaged. The fourth picture shows Turkish politician Huseyin Yayman dining with quake-stricken people. And the last picture shows new housing blocks which are under construction in the mountainous Turkish city of Hassa. The framing of this story was individualistic narrative.

Image 20 Six months after her rescue, Afraa is healthy and happy

On August 6th, the BBC published a 930-word piece titled “The remarkable recovery of Syria's earthquake baby”. The article was accompanied with six images, four of which depict the baby girl, Afraa, who was found in the rubble of a collapsed building in Syria while her umbilical cord was still attached to her mother. Her mother had died just after giving birth. Baby Afraa was the only member of her immediate family to survive. The fifth picture shows her uncle who is taking care of her along with his seven children. The last image is a drone footage showing the extent of the devastation in the Syrian town of Jindayris. The framing of this story was individualistic narrative.

Image 21 How Google's alert appears on Android smartphones

On July 27th, a 1,271-word report by a BBC Newsnight investigation was published showing that “Google alert failed to warn people of Turkey earthquake”. The article contains three pictures, one showing an old man talking on the phone among earthquake rubbles, the second one shows a woman who lost 25 members of her family in the quake and the last one shows a man, Ridvan Gunturk, who had posted that he had got a warning in the city of Adana for the second earthquake. There are two more images, one showing the phone screen of quake alerts with the warning saying "drop, cover, hold". The other one was an image from Google Earth locating the epicenters of the earthquake. The debate on the role of technology amid the natural disaster was the main framing of this story.

Image 22 Crowds greeted President Erdogan and his wife Ermine as they voted in Istanbul

On May 14, a 1,008-word article titled “Turkey decides on future with or without Erdogan” was published on BBC website. It centered on Turkey’s presidential election. The included seven pictures. The first showing President Erdogan and his wife Ermine at polling station.

The second image show two young women, the supporters of presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The BBC has highlighted their comment, which reads, “I came here to see Kilicdaroglu. Under him things can be different - he hugs everybody”. The third picture depicts the opposition presidential candidate being cheered by well-wishers as he arrived to vote. The fourth is the picture of a woman and her daughter, one of five million first-time voters in the election. The fifth picture shows people at a polling station in Antakya, one of the cities hardest hit by the February earthquakes. The sixth picture shows Kilicdaroglu visiting Anitkabir—Ataturk’s mausoleum - on the eve of the vote. And the last picture shows Erdogan ending his election push with Saturday prayers at Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul. The debate on Turkey's presidential election was the main framing of this story.

Image 23 Omar’s son was pulled alive from the rubble of Turkey’s earthquake, but where is he?

On May 11, an audio story was released by three different podcasts produced by BBC, namely Assignment, the Documentary Podcast and Crossing Continents. The story titled “Searching for my son” is about a man, Omar, separated from his son after both were pulled alive from the collapsed ruins of their home. Omar lost his first born and his wife but believes Ahmed could still be alive. The audio includes an interview with Omar. The photo of all three is the same it shows Omar pasting a poster of his son on a lamppost near his destroyed home. It reads: ‘Missing’. The framing of this story was individualistic narrative.

Image 24 Crying out in grief for her son, killed in the earthquakes, Fethiye Keklik blamed corrupt officials and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

On May 9th, a 1,427-word article titled “Turkey elections: Aftershocks of anger and grief in the quake-hit nation” was published on BBC.com. the article includes eight photos. The first one is a picture of woman crying out in grief for her son, killed in the earthquakes. The second one is a picture from the city of Antakya, a patchwork of ruins and empty spaces. The third photo show the same grief-stricken mother from another angle. The fourth picture is showing a man in rubbles. The fifth depicts two women looking the straight into camera. The sixth shows the wreckage of collapsed buildings, still being cleared in Antakya. The seventh picture shows President Erdogan giving a lecture to a crowd of supporters. The eighth picture shows the graves of victims of the disaster. There is also a picture from google showing the epicentre of quakes. The debate on voters challenging the agenda of President Erdogan was the framing of this story.

Visual role in stories

Most visuals used by the BBC were mostly meant to arouse emotions regarding the conditions of survivors, their feelings towards political developments (presidential election) and how they were struggling to pick up the pieces after the tragedy and start again.

4) The Globe and Mail

Dominant visual framing

Differently from the media outlets mentioned above, 84 per cent of the images used in the news articles from The Globe and Mail had a political background. Not one story published in the post-state-of-emergency coverage mentioned refugees and only three mentioned humanitarian aid.

Image 25 Banners in Istanbul promote Recep Tayyip Erdogan's re-election with the slogan 'For the Turkish century, the right time, the right man.'

Image 27 Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Turkey's main opposition alliance, addresses supporters in Tekirdag, east of Istanbul on the Marmara coast.

Visual role in stories

Image 26 Carrying flowers and a sign reading 'let's rebuild Hatay,' anti-government protesters gather in Hatay, one of the cities hit by the devastating earthquakes along the Turkish-Syrian border this past February

The focus on the political situation in Turkey suggests that the outlet might prefer to cover the earthquake in the region through this frame. In one of the news, it suggests that the possible victory of Tayyip Erdogan, the president who was pursuing the reelection, might be better for the relationship with the United States. The outlet's preference seems to be evidenced by the choice of pictures. Mr. Erdogan's face can be seen in all the pictures, while none of the pictures of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential candidate of Turkey's main opposition alliance, show his face.