
The skeleton of a damaged building looms into the sky, above the ruins and rubble of collapsed ones surrounding it. Antakya was hit by two severe earthquakes on the 6th of February this year, followed by several others, and hundreds of aftershocks.



4:17am - 6th of February 2023.
Southern Turkey and northern Syria were hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, the first of many large scale earthquakes, which would hit the region later the same day, and for the consecutive weeks and months to follow.
Those initial 80 seconds, the estimated duration of the first of those quakes, destroyed the homes of millions of people, and killed more than 60,000 people across Turkey and Syria.
The immediate aftermath was chaos, survivors tried to locate and rescue loved ones, friends, neighbours. Screams and cries came from buildings, but often ill equipped rescue volunteers were unable to save people, and needed to wait for specialised machines to arrive.
From across Turkey, as soon as news broke, volunteers streamed into the affected southern region. Miners, construction workers, doctors, medics, students, aid workers, and emergency service staff, along with the police and army, began the years long process of locating people, attempting rescues, identifying the dead, and helping to rebuild. International rescue teams soon arrived to the area from the far corners of the world in those first days, the most vital in finding survivors.
This story isn't finished, and the region remains in utter ruins. 2.5 million people remain homeless in Turkey, and the entire country is traumatised.








The rescue of a survivor from amongst the rubble on day 4 after the earthquakes hit southern Turkey and northern Syria. Antakya, Hatay, Turkey.

Police cars lay crushed under the rubble of buildings that collapsed as a result of the severe earthquakes which stuck in southern Turkey on the 6th of February 2023

The Orontes river, which runs through Antakya, Hatay, Turkey, passing the destroyed ruins of the city in the early hours of the morning, after an earthquake that struck at 4:17am on the 6th of February 2023


An earthquake survivor walks down the destroyed ruins of a central street in Antakya, on the corner of Kurtulus Cad. in Hatay, Turkey


Firemen nd volunteer rescuers take a break between the rescue efforts to locate and retrieve survivors from the rubble of collapsed and damaged buildings in Antakya, Hatay, Turkey



Kahramanmaras. 7th of February 2023 after the earthquakes struck the region the day before





Vast mountains of rubble are piling up in the countryside near Antakya, where the collapsed and damaged buildings are being cleared. The dumps are known to contain asbestos, along with all other household items, and possibly even the bodies of those crushed inside buildings beyond recognition.

A photograph of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and a Turkish flag, saved from the rubble of a former home destroyed by the earthquakes in central Antakya, southern Turkey.



Rescue efforts continue throughout the night, at a pancaked building in the suburbs of Antakya, Hatay, southern Turkey.






Rebiye Dogru sitting in her current tent home, next to her father Remzi (right) in the Haci Omer Alpagot neighbourhood of Antakya. After the multiple earthquakes damaged their home, they now live nearby in a tent camp alongside other homeless residents.

















Volunteer rescuers take a minute of silence during the search to locate survivors buried under the rubble

Antakya, Hatay, Turkey

Miners who volunteered to help with the rescue effort to find survivors, survey the extent of the damage caused by the two large earthquakes which struck in southern Turkey.

A portrait of Turkey's founding father, Atatürk in the streets of Antakya, Hatay, Turkey.

Possessions and memories strewn across the dusty streets, next to collapsed buildings in Hatay, Turkey.

Rescue workers collecting bodies and helping to find survivors in the southern Turkish cities affected by the large earthquakes on the 6th of February 2023. Antakya, Hatay, Turkey.

Antakya, Hatay, Turkey

Antakya, Hatay, Turkey

Antakya, Hatay, Turkey


Antakya, Hatay, Turkey



Antakya, Hatay, Turkey


Iskenderun port on fire after earthquakes caused damage to the cargo being stored in the area.









