On February 6, two large earthquakes hit southern Turkey. The area sits on two active fault lines and seismologists had long warned a big tremour was imminent, yet little was done to prepare – a disastrous mix of lax building regulation enforcement and profit-led development led to the collapse of thousands of buildings. Many of the residents were still inside.
Almost 50,000 people were killed, with many trapped for days under the rubble, screaming for help, as rescue workers struggled to get to them in time.
I spent three weeks documenting the aftermath of the quakes across the worst hit cities, which includes Antakya, Adiyaman, Kahramanmaras. Whole neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble in areas that are often home to minority Kurds, Alevi's and Syrian refugees, who had already fled civil war. Entire families were lost under the debris.
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