Turkey earthquake survivors search rubble for their gold savings

In the nearly-deserted centre of the southern Turkish city of Osmaniye, an elderly couple wait by the ruins of the three-story building where they lived, hoping their life savings might emerge from the debris when it is cleared.

Reyhan Vural, 48, and her 59-year-old husband Metin survived the devastating February 6 quake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria. But like many who made it out alive, they now struggle with having lost nearly everything.

The Vural family and many others kept decades-worth of savings at home in the form of gold - usually coins or jewellery - a long-standing practice in Turkey and the Middle East where storing the precious metal at home is often trusted more than depositing cash in a bank.

"Our everything is in the rubble," Vural said, gesturing at the mound of debris that was her home on a quiet street lined with...