A 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked northern and western regions of Syria and southern and central parts of Turkey, initiating a humanitarian disaster and compounding political tensions that have existed for decades. In the early morning on Feb. 6, the Middle East was faced with a historical natural disaster. With the epicenter just 40 km west of Gaziantep, a major city in south-central Turkey, the event has caused insurmountable damage and devastated tens of thousands of lives across the two countries.