A young girl was was pulled out alive from a collapsed building in Turkey on Monday after miraculously surviving one week beneath a mountain of rubble from the country’s worst earthquake in modern history — as experts warned that the chances of finding more survivors are “very, very small now.”
Intense footage released by the Turkish Coal Operations Authority shows rescue workers pulling the child, identified as Miray, out from under a building in Adiyamanto that collapsed in the devastating earthquakes, which have killed at least 37,000 people in the country and neighboring Syria.
The workers erupt into cheers and applause as the small child, believed to be between four and six years old, is pulled to safety after spending an excruciating 178 hours trapped under the debris.
In another dramatic recovery in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, crews dug a tunnel to save a grandmother, mother and daughter all from a single family who had been trapped in a room in the remains of a three-storey building since last Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake.
“It’s already a miracle. After seven days, they are there with no water, no food and in good condition,” said Burcu Baldauf, head of the Turkish voluntary healthcare team.
Rescuers carry Saadet Sendag, a Turkish woman who was rescued after 177 hours. REUTERS
Cudi, a 12-year-old Syrian girl, was rescued on Feb. 12. dia images via Getty ImagesA 13-year-old boy was also pulled out alive after spending 182 hours under the rubble of a collapsed building in Turkey’s southern Hatay province on Monday.
His head was braced and covered for warmth as rescue crews quickly moved him into an ambulance.
The miraculous tales of survival so far have been extraordinary — with stories of survivors hiding under tiny pockets of air amid the ruins or furniture saving families from being crushed by concrete.
An infant rescued from the wreckage of the Feb. 6 earthquake is transported by ambulance to receive care at a hospital run by the Syrian American Medical Society. AFP via Getty Images
A man stands on top of the rubble of his house destroyed during an earthquake in Antakya, southeastern Turkey, on Feb. 12, 2023. APProf Tony Redmond, an emergency medicine specialist, told the BBC that even the cold has helped save lives.
When temperatures drop, a person’s blood vessels shrink, allowing them to last longer from injures, he explained.
However, hopes of finding many more survivors of the 7.8 magnitude Feb. 6 quake and aftershock in the debris are fading.
The death toll in Turkey has now surpassed 31,600 and more than 5,700 in Syria. The grim tally is likely to hit 50,000, the UN predicted over the weekend.
Members of a search and rescue operation work on a building that collapsed during the earthquake in Antakya, southeastern Turkey, on Feb. 12, 2023. AP
Members of the Aytulun family warm themselves around a campfire in front of the building where five members of their family were fatally trapped during the earthquake in Antakya, southeastern Turkey, on February 12, 2023. APEduardo Reinoso Angulo, a professor at the Institute of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and author of a study involving earthquake deaths, said the likelihood of finding people alive was “very, very small now.”
According to Reinoso, the odds of people trapped in wreckage surviving severely decrease after five days — and is nearly zero after nine days, though there have been exceptions.
As the days go on, the severe winter temperatures and lack of food and water are now becoming a major concern for those who are still stuck under debris and waiting to be rescued.
Overnight, temperatures in the region have fallen to 21 Fahrenheit (minus 6 Celsius).
Dr. Stephanie Lareau, a professor of emergency medicine at Virginia Tech, told Reuters that the way humans respond to hypothermia is shivering, but the action requires more calories than the victims of the earthquake would likely have.
Rescue workers and medics carry a woman out of the debris of a collapsed building in Elbistan, Kahramanmaras, in southern Turkey. AP
Chinese and Turkish rescuers transfer an earthquake survivor in Antakya in the southern province of Hatay, Turkey. Xinhua/Sipa USA“So if somebody’s deprived of food for a number of days and exposed to cold temperatures, they’re probably going to succumb to hypothermia more rapidly,” Lareau said.
In the week since the earthquake, tens of thousands of people who have lost their homes have found shelter in tents, stadiums and other temporary accommodations, while others have spent frigid nights outdoors.
In Turkey, many are blaming the mass devastation on faulty construction, prompting authorities to investigate contractors linked to the buildings that collapsed. At least 131 people are under investigation for their alleged construction of buildings that did not withstand the quakes, officials said.
Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but the codes are not usually enforced, according to experts.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said Syrians are “looking for international help that hasn’t arrived,” during a visit to the Turkish-Syrian border on Sunday.
“We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned,” he said, adding, “My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can.”
Rescue teams evacuate a survivor from the rubble of a destroyed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. AP
Members of a search and rescue operation work on an area that collapsed during the earthquake in Antakya, southeastern Turkey, on Feb. 12, 2023. APIn the Syrian capital of Damascus, the head of the World Health Organizationnoted that the disaster was an “unfolding tragedy that’s affecting millions.”
“The compounding crises of conflict, COVID, cholera, economic decline, and now the earthquake have taken an unbearable toll,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
With Post wires
