Bravery and desperation at the epicentre of Turkey’s devastating earthquake

The town and region of Kahramanmaras was at the epicentre of Turkey’s earthquake and is now one of the key focal points of the effort to rescue survivors from its ruined buildings.

But shopkeepers in the town fear that with residents struggling to survive in the quake’s aftermath, some will take the law into their own hands. They say supermarkets in the town were robbed of supplies. Some shopkeepers stand guard against the threat of looters, trying to protect their livelihood.

But while the disaster may have brought out the worst in some, others have braved aftershocks and unstable buildings to rescue those trapped inside.

Cameras caught the moment Mustafa Yilmaz, 48, was pulled alive from the rubble of his home in the city, and greeted by relatives. The families of many of his neighbours were waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones.