Satellite images of southern Turkey have revealed the true scale of damage wrought by the earthquakes which devastated the country earlier this week.

Images taken by Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs show thousands of buildings reduced to rubble in the towns of Kahramanmaraş, and Antakya near the Syrian border.

The shots from the sky also show the huge effort by emergency crews and volunteers trying to save those still trapped under the rubble.

Over 8,000 people have been pulled from the wreckage caused by the quakes, with the official death toll now exceeding 15,000.

Thousands more are still missing.

The epicentre of Monday’s first and biggest earthquake, which measured 7.8 magnitude, was near the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş.

Satellite image of Kahramanmaras before being hit by a strong earthquake struck the region before it was hit by the quake (Picture: Planet Labs/Getty)

The images of the left were taken on July 2022 and lay bare the scale of destruction caused by the quake (Picture: Maxar Technologies)

Satellite images of a residential area in the city show it almost completely reduced to rubble, with many buildings destroyed and debris littering the streets.

A stadium can also be seen to have collapsed in on itself.

Less than 12 hours later, a second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck the same region, along with dozens of aftershocks in the following days.

In the nearby city of Antakya, the roofs of many buildings have entirely fallen in, while other structures have crumbled to the ground.

Along with scenes of destruction, the images also show a glimpse of the relief efforts operating in the area, with dozens of white tents pitched in an empty lot and vehicles crowding the nearby area.

Roads were gridlocked with emergency vehicles in some of the city’s busiest areas, and a number of tall structures can be seen to have collapsed.

Turkey’s disaster management agency said it has received reports of 11,342 collapsed buildings, of which 5,775 had been confirmed.

Groups of tents have been erected in parks and public squares, with tens of vehicles parked next to them and many more travelling on the road next to it.

Many buildings have been levelled and public spaces have been taken over by relief efforts (Picture: Maxar Technologies)

Three days after the earthquake devastated war-ravaged Syria, the United Nations revealed that very little aid had arrived in government-held areas, and that it had been unable to send a single convoy of aid to opposition-held territory.

Syria has been engulfed in a bloody civil war since 2014.

Nearly 11 million people in Syria have been affected by the earthquake, according to the United Nations.

Four million of them rely on aid agencies for basic humanitarian needs like clean water and food.

UK aid agencies – including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and ActionAid- have announced a joint fundraiser in order to provide relief to the region.

The televised appeal is expected to broadcast this evening, and funds will go towards medical aid, emergency shelter, food and clean water, the BBC reports.

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Before and after photos lay bare the true scale of the disaster.