Amid a wasteland strewn with bricks and iron and a city reeling from unfathomable loss, a lone new building stands unscathed. The European cultural centre at the heart of Adıyaman looks like a place that the earthquake bypassed; the thumps of nearby diggers echo from its robust walls and the images of passing rescuers are reflected in its pristine glass facade.
The centre is considered by some as a monument to survival that somehow endured a disaster that destroyed almost everything around it. But to a growing number of others, it’s a sign of what should have been for the rest of a ruined city.
