The girl was stuck in the ruins of some buildings in southern Turkey
On February 6, two massive earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria. The death toll has surpassed 46,000 and at least twenty-four million people are affected by the disaster. Over six thousand buildings have been destroyed and rescue workers have been trying to get people out of the rubble. A little girl who had been trapped in the ruins of a collapsed apartment building had been stuck for 178 hours. And she has finally been saved.
Rescued
Miray, a little girl from Turkey, was rescued on Monday while rescue workers in the city of Adiyaman were looking for survivors. The girl had been trapped underneath the rubble for 178 hours. That is a total of seven-and-a-half days. She was attached to a stretcher and carried off by rescue workers while the workers cheered. According to BBC, they shouted “God is great” while getting the girl out of the ruins. Workers were still looking for Miray’s older sister. Other remarkable rescues have been happening in the affected areas. A thirteen-year-old named Kaan had been trapped for 182 and was rescued too. A woman, Naide Umay, was also rescued after being trapped for 175 hours.
Survival
Chances of surviving for over seven days without any food, water or limited oxygen are very small. And that means that the chances of finding survivors after all this time are small too. The reason why people like Miray, Kaan or Naide have survived for this long, depend on their injuries or the space they’re trapped in. According to Prof. Tony Redmond, the cold temperatures in the region could have played a part too. If you are injured and you get cold, it might be beneficial because your blood vessels will narrow. That might make you last a little longer. But if it gets too cold, that could be harmful too.
Different groups of people came together to look for survivors but as the days pass, the chances of finding survivors are getting smaller. Several rescue teams are debating whether they should stop the search.
Read more: Qatar donates World Cup mobile homes to earthquake survivors
Source: Al Jazeera, BBC | Image: Unsplash, Mohammed al Bardawil