Turkey-Syria earthquake: Family of six rescued after four days under rubble

February 10, 2023 10:52 am

People search through rubble following an earthquake in Diyarbakir, Turkey February 6, 2023. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar

Four days after deadly earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria, rescue workers have recorded successes in pulling several people alive from the rubble.

The death toll from the double earthquakes has now exceeded 21,500. At least 18,342 people have been killed in Turkey while over 3,377 people are known to have died in Syria.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicted that up to 20,000 deaths may be recorded.

Biting freezing weather conditions and damaged road networks including airport runways, and cholera outbreaks have slowed down rescue efforts.

Experts had also expressed concern over the survival window for those trapped under the debris, saying chances to obtain basic necessities such as water and air were closing rapidly.

More than 90 percent of earthquake survivors are rescued within the first three days during a disaster like this and it is now well over 96 hours since the first earthquake struck.

However, on Friday, rescue workers in Hatay province, Turkey, found nine survivors trapped under a building.

Six, all relatives, were saved and work was ongoing to reach the others.

The six were helped to survive by huddling together in a small pocket left within the collapsed structure, said Murat Baygul, a rescue worker.

Also in Hatay province, a newborn baby and his mother were rescued from a ruined structure.

The rescue comes a day after a baby who was born under the rubble of a collapsed building in north-west Syria was found.

When she was rescued, baby Aya – meaning miracle in Arabic – was still connected to her mother by her umbilical cord.

Her mother, father, and all four of her siblings died after the quake hit the town of Jindayris, in Syria.

So far, thousands of people across the world have offered to adopt the baby.

Meanwhile, before dawn in Gaziantep, near the epicenter of the quake in Turkey, rescuers pulled Adnan Korkut from the basement where he had been trapped.

The teenager who was reunited with his mother said he had been forced to drink his own urine to quench his thirst.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan had assured that every necessary step would be taken to unite the nation, adding that no citizen would be left behind.