More than two weeks after the earthquakes that destroyed her Antakia (Antioch). TurkeyMustafa Kazaz camped nearby in the ruins of a building where his family lived, refusing to leave even after the search for the bodies of his father, brother and sister was over.

“We worked and worked. They ransacked the whole building,” he said, sitting alone in the dark on the lot opposite the house where his family lived.

“They told me the job was done. There is no one else. They say: “Your brother, sister, father are not here.” How is that possible;”

Rescue efforts in 10 provinces hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on February 6 that killed more than 47,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria largely ground to a halt last Sunday.

When another earthquake hit Hatay Province on Monday, several buildings collapsed, killing six people, prompting new rescue efforts. But by Tuesday, efforts to rescue survivors stalled, and Antakya’s downtown was deserted.

Only the sounds of excavators were heard removing debris from nearby collapsed buildings as rescuers tried to find the bodies of the mother and daughter.

Qazaz, a 25-year-old Syrian who came to Turkey with his family five years ago, sat on a chair next to the tent where he had slept for the past 15 days.

“I will not leave”

“I will wait here all my life. I won’t leave,” said Kazaz, clasping his head in his hands and crying. “I knew at least 250 people on this street. Now they are all dead,” he said, referring to the main street in Antakya where his family lived.

Kazaz lived in the province of Trabzon in northeastern Turkey, where he worked as an interpreter in the tourism industry. He spent the day before the first earthquake in Antakya visiting his family for the first time in many years.

“I worked in Trebizond for three years, saving money for a wedding. My mother turned it all into gold and it all stayed at home. (Now) I’m starting from scratch.”

When the first earthquake became known, he hurried back to Antakya. He said that he pulled his sister and mother out of the rubble himself, without the help of the authorities.

In the video, which he says was his own rescue attempt, he is seen clambering through a narrow passageway between the collapsed ceiling and floor until only his legs are visible.

According to him, his mother was already dead when he took her, and his sister died shortly after. In another video, he showed his sister’s body covered in a pink blanket.

“I lived for them. Like I was born now. I do not have anyone. I have no money. I have nothing. I don’t have a future. I don’t have a home.”

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}