On February 6, 2023, two strong earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 occurred in Turkey. The disaster claimed more than 50 thousand lives.
I arrived at the epicenter of the earthquake, the city of Antakya (Turkey) on the same day and began to document the events. The city turned into a ghost, the air was a haze of dust from collapsed buildings, I heard screams. I witnessed how a father pulled the body of his five-year-old son out of the rubble with his own hands. After some hours I saw how small teams of rescuers pulled out a young man from under the darkness of the rubbles. He was covered in dust, his eyes were closed. He had been lying under cold concrete without water for 150 hours.
In such situations, life and death walk side by side, people show their best and worst qualities, all the feelings are sharpened. This horror displays how fragile a person is in the hands of nature, but at the same time how strong their will and desire to survive might become.
Antakya
The epicenter of the earthquake the city of Antakya was destroyed by 95 percent and the surviving 5 percent of the buildings became uninhabitable Rescuers working on the spot said that they had never witnessed such a nightmare
Zaid
The body of 5 years old Zaid which his father Bashar dug up with his own hands This Syrian family who moved from Aleppo to the Turkish city of Osmanye in the hope of escaping the war and starting a new life had no idea that such a tragedy awaited them
Father carries the body of his son
Bashar carries Zaid s body to the ambulance
Elif
Elif who is 65 years old stands on the rubble of her collapsed house in Antakya In this tragedy she lost 4 grandchildren She has no idea what to do how to live now
Cemetery
Around 10 cemeteries with unmarked graves have appeared in Antakya There is no one to identify some people because sometimes the whole family dies under the rubble Corpses cannot be left on the streets for sanitary reasons Cholera could break out in the city so they bury them as fast as possible
Family in grief
2 days have already passed but this woman s son has still not been found She won t get a break from the rubble of her home in Kahramanmaras even though rescuers tell her they can no longer hear sounds under the rubble The mother in grief cries without interruption from time to time raising her hands to the sky as if asking Allah to help her
Jacket
A jacket captured on the rubble of one of the houses in Kahramanmaras
The work of the rescuers
Rescue teams who arrived to the epicenter of the earthquake the city of Kahramanmaras work non stop - day and night Their numbers and resources are too limited to save everyone so they had to make the hardest choices br Through the tones of cold bars and concrete they made their way to survivors who were asking for help by shouting or knocking
Mustafa
As the result of the one of the operations rescuers managed to save the life of Mustafa Sarigul 25 years old resident of Antakya He has spent 150 hours under the rubble in cold darkness and without water He was shouting his name and rescuers finaly heard him It took 10 hours to pull the man out
Soldier
Soldier is crying after the succesful rescue operation It is always a very emotional moment and every rescue executed after 7 days from the moment of tragedy is considered as miracle
Fire
Women are sitting near the fire 50 meters away from their collapsed home All their hopes for the future collapsed together with it in a minute They are sitting in silence and just the crackling of wood in the fire can be heard
Photographs
Photographs of the people who died in the tragedy can be seen everywhere They are left near the houses in hope relatives or friends of those people would come to collect it
