Specialist firefighter Natalie Tarrant initially found it hard to describe what it was like witnessing the destruction in Türkiye after devastating earthquakes.
She felt mentally prepared for the task ahead when she was on the flight from Australia, but hitting the ground was a different story.
"It was like a Hollywood movie scene. It was just utter destruction," she said.
"Everywhere you looked there were buildings down, there were crushed cars, there were people's personal belongings just strewn through the streets."
Based in Newcastle, which experienced a 5.6 earthquake in 1989, Ms Tarrant is specially trained in urban search and rescue.
She was among 70 Fire and Rescue NSW personnel deployed to Türkiye and Syria to join the rescue effort, after earthquakes devastated both countries, killing more than 50,000 people.
More than 22 tonnes of equipment was used to search 27 areas.
The group worked 14-hour days for 14 days straight.
All she could do was put herself in their shoes.
"I just thought, 'What would I do if this happened to Newcastle?'
"What would I do if this happened to my friends and family's houses and businesses? How would I cope? What would I try and do to make the locals feel better?"
Recovery mission
To protect her mental health, she said she detached herself emotionally when searching for people who might still be trapped under the rubble.
It was a grim situation, given most of her efforts involved recovering more than 30 bodies.
But she knew that it was an important job.
"Giving back to the families their loved ones, that took away from the traumatic side of it," she said.
"Then it turned into … a rewarding experience, that's what took over.
"We know that we made a difference there, you could see it in people's faces."
The gratitude from locals was very apparent, despite the freezing conditions and the little they had to offer as crews cleared each site.
"They were giving us tea and coffee and biscuits because they had nothing else to give," she said.
"They would hand on heart give you a little nod, just come up and try and shake your hand, they could see we had the Australian flag on our shoulder and the kangaroo on our back.
"They were just a beautiful, beautiful people, just so grateful after what had happened and so resilient."
Terror of an aftershock
Ms Tarrant got a taste of the terror when an aftershock hit as she was going to sleep one night.
"It must have been a bit after 10 o'clock … and I was in the tent with my tent buddy and it was chaos," she said.
"We just got rocked and rolled for what felt like a few minutes … that was very scary.
"We had a few locals staying where our base of operations were was and they were just in hysterics.
"They'd gone through that only few weeks prior and they thought the same thing was happening again."
It was the scariest experience she encountered during her time away, but thankfully everyone around her was okay.
Now that she's returned home and is back at work, Ms Tarrant is grateful for her normal routine of seeing friends and family, and eating more than just a ration pack.
