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Rescue and recovery efforts in Turkey and Syria have been underway for hours since a powerful earthquake shook the two countries, bringing down buildings and burying thousands of people in their sleeping homes.
But emergency officials and aid workers know time is limited to save survivors.
“It’s a race against time because the weather is very, very cold. It’s raining, it’s snowing. There’s heavy rain, strong winds and temperatures below zero. So we have to hurry to find people because people are stuck below [the] debris,” Hombeline Dulière, of the British Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, told Reuters news agency.
Crews of rescue workers and volunteers are digging through mounds of crumbled concrete across southern Turkey and northern Syria, trying to reach anyone who may have survived beneath the collapsed buildings.
As the death toll rises into the thousands, stories emerge from survivors, both hearts and hopes against the odds.
Rescue the most vulnerable
In Syria, a baby who was reportedly born under the rubble was pulled to safety in the northwestern town of Jinderes, an area controlled by opposition rebels. The baby girl was found with an umbilical cord attached to her mother, who did not survive.
He was taken to a hospital, in the city of Afrin, where he received treatment.
In this brief video, a man is shown rushing a baby to safety in Jindires, Syria, after the child was born Monday at a site that collapsed due to an earthquake.
In the same devastated city, a four-year-old girl named Noor was found buried under concrete blocks and broken rebar. In a video shared by the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, unidentified volunteers try to comfort the child as they clear the debris around them.
“[Your] father is here. Don’t be afraid Noor, please look here. Talk to your father. Look! This is your father,” he said, as the dazed girl searched his face.
When the man picked him up, he said “Allahu akbar.” [God is great]”You can see in the video how lucky he is to be alive. Other volunteers had to approach the body on the concrete slab above.
In Turkey’s Hatay province, another four-year-old girl defied the odds and survived more than 33 hours trapped on the first floor of a damaged three-story building. A video shared by a Turkish news outlet shows the moment he was taken to safety with his relatives.
A Syrian girl was rescued Tuesday from the rubble deep in Jindires, Syria, after the building she was in collapsed.
Although the stories are heartwarming, the United Nations children’s agency is preparing for the tragic young victims.
“Earthquakes that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria early [Monday] morning could kill thousands of children,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder to reporters at a briefing in Geneva. But he added the organization could not determine the number of deaths specifically for children at this time.
Survival after disaster
For the families who left their homes, the past two days have been difficult but filled with gratitude
“God gave me a new life,” said Osama Abdel Hamid, from the village of Azmarin, in Syria’s Idlib province.
He and his wife and four children were sleeping in their apartment when they were awakened by a strong and prolonged shaking. He ran from the apartment, but “before we got to the door of the building, the whole building came down on us,” he said. .
A wooden door shielded him from the worst forces falling. He and his wife and three children suffered headaches, but are all in a stable condition at a hospital in Darkush.
He told the Associated Press many of his neighbors are not as fortunate as his family.
“This building has four floors, and from three, no one can get out,” Abdul Hamid said through tears.
Neset Guler and his family also escaped in time from their home in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş, just 50 kilometers north of the first epicenter.
“We just escaped from inside the house. We have four children and we left the house with them at the last moment. I think there are some people trapped inside. It’s a big disaster,” said the survivor Neset Guler when he and people another try. to stay warm, wrapped in a blanket around the fire on Friday night.
But when they were lucky enough to survive the disaster, they were left in a perilous situation like many other survivors.
“Our situation is very bad here, we are waiting without water or food,” said Guler. “We are in a miserable situation.”
Loved ones are left behind
Those who survived the destruction have also been left with despair and abandonment, as they are powerless to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones from under the rubble.
It is a sentiment shared by some members of Alinak’s family in the Turkish city of Malatya.
The epicenter of the magnitude 7.5 aftershock, which struck nine hours after the larger earthquake, was about 160 kilometers to the west.
Alinak’s family is now homeless and waiting in the heavy snow and freezing temperatures for someone to come help their missing relative.
“My grandson-in-law is here, he’s been here for two days, whatever, what’s the time,” said Sabiha Alinak.
They said they were not allowed to dig through the debris to pull out the bodies of two children believed to be buried inside. They want to lay down to rest.
“There are probably hundreds of buildings like this,” Ahmet Alinak said, pointing behind the snow-covered house. “Thousands are now under the rubble [Turkish authorities] will not let us save them in our own way, but neither will we send anyone to help them.”
A bulldozer was parked in front of the former home, but no one was driving it because heavy snowfall hampered search efforts and the delivery of aid to inaccessible areas.
“For God’s sake, let’s do it,” said Sabiha.
“This is not what we want from the country. No matter how big the earthquake is, the mobilization of all people is necessary,” added Ahmet. He felt that the family was “destined”.
As it happens7:14 a.mSurvivors of the earthquake in Turkey cling to hope while waiting in the cold and dark
Barış Yapar spent Monday night in the car with his parents, waiting and praying that someone would come to dig his grandparents out of the rubble of their apartment in Samandag, Turkey. It was close to midnight when he spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
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