We are still counting the dead in Turkey and Syria. According to the latest official report, more than 44,000 people died in the earthquake of magnitude 7.8 which took place 13 days ago now, on Monday February 6 in the morning. More than 300 hours later, the chances of survival under the rubble are almost nil, to the point that searches were stopped almost everywhere in Turkey this Sunday.
This Saturday, however, a man and a woman were found after spending 296 hours trapped in Antakya, reported the state news agency Anadolu, which broadcast images of their rescue. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca released a video of the 40-year-old woman in a field hospital while receiving treatment. “She is conscious,” he tweeted. In this miracle, there is also a drama. A 12-year-old child, found at their side, died a few minutes after efforts were made to save him.
How are these miracles still possible? “Each time, we ourselves are incredulous, it seems completely crazy”, recognizes on France Info Hervé Roy, emergency doctor who was notably mobilized after the earthquakes in Nepal in 2015, in Haiti in 2010 or in Iran in 2003.
Rain ‘saved lives’
However, the chances of survival always end up being explained, starting with the level of injuries. “The trapped victims who are injured, who lose blood, unfortunately have little chance of survival,” explains the emergency doctor. The temperature, felt as low as -15 degrees in the middle of the night, doesn’t help either.
Then, it is imperative to have pockets of air under the rubble as well as an imperative source of water, however small it may be. Total dehydration for almost 300 hours is simply deadly. “The fact that it rained just before the earthquake saved lives. The victims were able to drink the water that was flowing, ”trying to explain Hervé Roy, still on France Info.
This is what enabled a 45-year-old man to survive 278 hours before being pulled out of the rubble in the province of Hatay, on the edge of the Syrian border. Several hours before, three other people, including a 14-year-old boy, were also rescued.
And that’s not all. On the spot, rescuers, like those of Haytap, a Turkish association for the protection of animals, try to save dogs, cats, birds… Since the beginning of the earthquake, Haytap has rescued more than 900 animals near Antakya. This Friday, they came to the aid of Nazli Yenocak, a 47-year-old woman who was trying to keep her two bulls alive, who was feeding them between the rubble. “Hearing them so quiet made me cry,” she said.
Other beautiful stories put balm in the heart of a population in a state of shock. By not letting go of his rescuer, a cat from Gaziantep, renamed “Enkaz” (rubble in Turkish), has become a hero on social networks.