Hundreds of red balloons are scattered among the wreckage of a demolished building next to a major road in Turkey’s earthquake-stricken south. According to Ogun Vir Okur, the man responsible for the memorial, they are the last homage to the kids who died in the earthquake that devastated Antakya. The contrast between the bright balloons and the dusty gray of the wreckage and twisted metal that once comprised a nine-floor structure is remarkable.

Against the monochrome backdrop, a handful of possessions attest to the young lives lost in the earthquake.A purple toy emblazoned with cartoon images of Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse lay forgotten near a pink scooter and a fuchsia anorak decorated with love hearts.

Okur, who grows roses and is a photographer, volunteered as a rescuer in the days after the earthquake in his hometown of Adana, before heading to Antakya 200 kilometres (125 miles) away.”I started here and then moved on to the building behind. This area struck me. I couldn’t sleep for several nights because we couldn’t rescue the children from here,” he said.

Eight days after the quake, Okur began tying balloons to the ruins in the city of 400 000 people, now a ghost town disturbed only by diggers and lorries removing rubble. More than 42 000 people were killed in Turkey in the earthquake though Turkish officials have not yet said how many of those were children. While the speed of the emergency response in Antakya was widely condemned, father-of-two Okur said there was no political motive behind his work, instead emphasising its sentimental meaning.

Since 2020, he has supported underprivileged children through his association, providing youngsters with toys and food, and in some cases prosthetic limbs or operations. He said the balloons were “the last toy (he could) offer” to young victims, attaching as many as 1 000 to five or six buildings in Antakya. Red balloons typically “represent joy, love,” he said. But in Antakya, after the earthquake, “this is the first time a balloon has made us cry”.