'I can't get the children's faces out of my head ...what future do they have?'

IT'S the children's faces I can't get out of my head. I keep wondering what the future holds for them.

- Amanda Redman

I met them in a small village in Adiyaman, near the epicentre of the devastating earthquake that hit southern Turkey and north-west Syria exactly a year ago today.

On February 6, 2023, while people slept, the quake destroyed their homes and lives. At least 56,000 died and 300,000 buildings were levelled or damaged.

Many in the UK generously reached out to help. The Disasters Emergency Committee's TurkeySyria Earthquake Appeal has raised an amazing £155million to help people who lost everything.

The DEC invited me to Turkey to meet people hit by the quakes and see how British donations are helping them on their long road to recovery.

I joined a drama session organised by psychologists from Save the Children's local partner, Pikolo Association, help kids make sense of what had happened.

Aged eight to 12, they are clearly badly affected, but they were beaming, impish and full of life.

They teased me mercilessly, which I loved to I believe drama can be extremely therapeutic and many of the children were missing loved ones and friends.

Esin, nine, said: "The drama classes help us forget the earthquake and stop us feeling sad."

Hypothermia

The quake shook an area about the size of Germany. Everywhere, someone had lost someone.