Antakya has been home to Jews for more than 2,300 years but the community had shrunk to fewer than 20 in recent years.
"However small it was, it had a very big part in the heart of the city," Chitrik said. "The heart of Antakya always showed this coexistence, tolerance. It was quite amazing to see this real connection between different traditions, cultures, ethnic backgrounds."
The rabbi said he came to Antakya after the earthquakes to check on the Jewish community and take them to Istanbul.
Entering the synagogue felt like "2,500 years of history had come to a close", Chitrik said. But he rescued ancient Torah scrolls dating back hundreds of years to keep until the synagogue is rebuilt.
"We were taking the Torahs and the last Jews out of the city. The Torahs will go back, the synagogue will be reopened. Once again there will be Jewish life in Antakya," he said.
Olcay Aydemir, an architect and restoration expert, said the region had experienced earthquakes over thousands of years and restoration efforts had to be sensitive.
"These structures rise from their ashes," she said. "These rocks should not be thrown away. The ones that can be re-used need to be re-used."
The structures that were still partly standing, such as the Habib-i Najjar Mosque, needed to be strengthened, Aydemir said, adding that every collapsed structure had to be examined individually to learn from the past and apply the lessons to the future.
"The last earthquake was bigger than expected. But it brought with it important data that could inform us about structures' weaknesses and reasons for their collapse," she said.
