A boy’s arduous steps on prosthetic legs after Turkey’s earthquake

LONDON - When a devastating earthquake struck Turkey in the early hours of February 6, 2023, the five-storey building in Hatay where 13-year-old Mehmet Koc lived collapsed, burying him in rubble and killing his older brother Emre, 14, and his mother Didem.

Mehmet survived. But it took 76 hours before rescuers could pull him from the mound of concrete and twisted metal that remained of his home. Later in hospital, doctors determined that his legs were so badly crushed and injured, both needed to be amputated just below the hip.

Hearing of the earthquake in London where he lived and worked, Mehmet's father, Hasan, caught the next available flight to Turkey and travelled to Hatay, in the southeast, desperate for news of his family.

The 58-year-old encountered a scene of utter destruction in the city and learned his wife and elder son had not survived, but Mehmet...