Amid the town's desolation are signs of hope...graffiti reads 'Nurdagi we will be back'

TORN pages from a precious wedding album lie scattered among the debris, weathered by a year of being left at the mercy of the unforgiving elements.

- Hanna Geissler

Once treasured photos of a beautiful bride and groom at the peak of happiness now form just one more part of a carpet of desolation that blankets much of earthquake-ravaged Nurdagi in south-east Turkey.

Most of its damaged buildings have been demolished in the 12 months since a 7.8 magnitude quake on February 6, 2023 tore apart this town that 45,000 people called home. Some 2,500 of them were killed, with many having to be buried in mass graves.

The Daily Express witnessed the horror at firsthand, seeing bodies recovered from collapsed homes wrapped in the very blankets under which families had been sleeping peacefully when the tremors struck.

Some fortunate survivors left what remained of their hometown, seeking shelter elsewhere and returning to Nurdagi this week, we encountered vast empty spaces that used to be filled with shops, houses and towering blocks of flats.

And yet...we also discovered signs of hope amid the destruction as other residents battle on, trying to piece together the fragments of their shattered lives.

Graffiti on one building suggests that some of the displaced hope to return.

It declares: "Geri donecegiz Nurdagi". We'll be back, Nurdagi. Some smaller damaged structures remain, albeit with sections missing or deep cracks spidering across their walls, but many of the once vibrant streets are barely recognisable.

Entire blocks have vanished. In what used to be the centre of town stands a lone apartment building bearing a dentistry sign, like a last rotten tooth waiting to be pulled.

At several storeys high it is now the tallest structure left in Nurdagi - but it, too, is earmarked for demolition.

The collapsed block of flats where we spent hours watching rescue teams desperately digging to reach any residents clinging to life in the wreckage has also been cleared.