Their grinding noise drowns out all else, and the vast cloud of dust they stir as they claw through the rubble fills your eyes and mouth with grit.
These are the diggers now working across southern Turkey to clear the wreckage caused by the 7.7 and 7.6 twin earthquakes which hit here in the early hours of February 6, over two months ago, followed by some 11,000 aftershocks.
At least 230,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed here so the need to clear is urgent before rebuilding for the 2.3 million displaced people now living in tents and container homes across the region begins.
