More than nine days after a powerful earthquake shook Turkey and Syria, rescuers were still pulling people from the rubble, defying predictions that the time for survival had passed.
A woman was pulled alive from the rubble 228 hours after Monday’s earthquake. The confused woman asked her rescuers “What day is it?” after she was pulled alive from the rubble, according to Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu.
The woman, Ela, survived under the rubble with her two children, a boy and a girl, for 228 hours. “The mother was happy to see us. I held her hand at first. We talked, chatted, and calmed her down,” rescue personnel Mehmet Eryilmaz said.
“She asked for water in the first place but we did not give anything before the medical teams intervened,” said, adding that she asked ‘What day are we on?’”
Health workers treating the mother and the children said the three were dehydrated but in reasonable condition.
Another woman was rescued on Tuesday as Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense released a video showing rescuers extricating the 77-year-old woman from debris in Adiyaman 212 hours after the tremors.
Gelibolu'dan gelen 2'nci Kolordu İstihkâm Alayı Arama Kurtarma Bölüğü, Hatay Gazi Mahallesi'nde enkazda arama faaliyetine aydınlatmalı olarak devam ediyor. #TürkiyeTekYürek 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/vQzqI59hsw— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) February 15, 2023
The woman was identified as Fatma Gungor and her family hugged her after she was saved.
On Wednesday, another woman identified as 45-year-old Melike İmamoglu was rescued after 222 hours in rubble in Kahramanmaras, according to Turkey’s state television TRT Haber.
2’nci Deniz İstihkâm Arama Kurtarma (DİSAK) Timi’nin sismik/akustik dinleme cihazlarıyla Kahramanmaraş Trabzon caddesinde enkaz altında tespit ettiği yaralı vatandaşımız Melike İmamoğlu, AFAD ekipleriyle koordineli bir şekilde depremin 222’nci saatinde enkazdan sağ çıkartıldı. pic.twitter.com/C619EDZQdw— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) February 15, 2023
According to experts, it’s unusual for people to survive more than 100 hours trapped in the rubble as most of them are rescued within 24 hours.
Dr Sanjay Gupta told CNN that freezing temperatures in the earthquake zone might be a possible reason extending survival times for the trapped people.
“The cold weather is a double edged sword. On the one hand, it makes it very difficult, it is below freezing right now… On the other hand, it may reduce the demands for water. Perhaps that is playing into this,” he said.
Last week’s tragedy killed nearly 40,000 people across swathes of southeast Turkey and northwest Syria, becoming the area’s deadliest natural disaster in centuries.
Millions of people are without homes, jobs and possessions, but fellow citizens are doing everything they can to help.
Read all the Latest News here