A man sits next to his collapsed house while a search team looks for people under the rubble in the epicentre of the earthquake in Kahramanmaras. Photos: Ahmed Deeb/dpa
There is only a crater in this southern Turkyish town where houses once stood, destroyed by a series of earthquakes.
Mortician Rene Stawinski watches as excavators work to remove the piles of rubble.
They are all that is left of six high-rise buildings in Kahramanmaras, after devastating earthquakes killed more than 47,000 people in Turkiye and Syria at the start of the month.
Everywhere you look are stones the size of pebbles, after the collapse of these homes of local people.
Beneath the dust lies a white cloth dotted with red flowers.
There is a sweet smell wafting from the stones, the smell of death.
Stawinski (left) leading a team of undertakers from Germany as they search for the dead in the rubble of buildings destroyed by the earthquake in Kahramanmaras.
Stawinski is a German undertaker and he travelled to Turkiye specially to help. He brought with him a team of 12 undertakers, who together are part of a volunteer organisation called Deathcare. They help recover bodies and prepare them for burial.
There are close ties between Germany and Turkiye, after Turks became the largest group of guest workers in Germany during the 1960s. Turkyish people are the largest immigrant group in Germany.
The Turkyish authorities believe there are two bodies beneath the piles of rubble that lie before Stawinski. If their suspicions are confirmed, then the first step is to identify them.
After that, Stawinski and his team would disinfect the bodies and prepare them for burial. Next, their relatives can take them away and bury them.
Often, amid the disaster, there is no time for the ritual washing that is the usual way that the dead are prepared for burial.
Already, tens of thousands of people have been buried in southern Turkiye since the earthquake struck on Feb 6.
Stawinski (centre) leading a team of volunteers from Germany from Deathcare, made of of volunteers who help to bury those killed in the devastating earthquake.
But the rubble is thought to cover thousands more bodies.
Stawinski and his team are already the second group to travel to the area from Deathcare. They came to relieve the first group.
To find the dead, the helpers need information that comes from relatives or authorities.
It is also important for public health and hygiene that the dead are recovered as quickly as possible. The bodies are starting to decompose, even though it is cold, Stawinski says. If they are not buried swiftly, there is a danger that an epidemic could break out.
But the undertakers are not immune to hope that survivors might still be found. A dog managed to locate a body beneath the rubble a few days ago, Stawinski says.
A thermal imaging camera indicated a heat source, though the person had already died. Even with the dead, the devices still show up some residual heat, he says.
For the relatives of the dead, the burial process is part of handling their grief and coming to accept their loss.
"Dead people have loved ones, and loved ones want to grieve," Stawinski says.
He and his team work with a translator and all are trained in grief counselling.
Kahramanmaras was close to the epicentre of the quake. Here alone, more than 22,000 buildings collapsed or were severely damaged, the Turkyish Ministry of Cities says.
The city is now virtually empty, with many people housed in emergency shelters.
But those who are now sitting, watching the piles of rubble are waiting to take their relatives with them, to bury them. Their eyes are red, their gazes are blank.
But they appreciate the helpers from Germany and show this in small ways, again and again. One man offers dates to the team.
Another turns around and says in German: "Thank you."
The humanity among the people and the gratitude touched him, says Stawinski. It may not be possible to save any more survivors, but the relatives "can simply be given a hug or embrace to show that you are with them". – dpa
