In the most recent instance of remarkable rescue work performed by foreign volunteers, a baby and his mother were found alive and retrieved from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Turkey an astounding ninety hours after the structure had fallen around them.
Before he was rescued from the rubble in the southern province of Hatay in Turkey, the baby boy, who was later given the name Yagiz, had already spent over half of his short life entombed under slabs of concrete.
The dramatic film showed paramedics gently lifting the infant out of the debris and wrapping him in a thermal blanket as they transported him to the waiting stretcher. Meanwhile, the boy’s mother was secured to the stretcher in case she suffered any spinal injuries.
There are reports that some earthquake victims are still clinging to life under the rubble in Turkey as well as in the neighboring country of Syria, where desperate search and rescue operations are still taking place.
Four days after the accident, the expectations of discovering many more survivors are gradually fading due to the fact that victims who are not only dehydrated but also wounded are also suffering from the cold winter weather.
More than 21,000 people have lost their lives as a result of the earthquake, which has been described as “the calamity of the century” by the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
This number surpasses the estimated 18,000 people who perished in an earthquake close to Istanbul in 1999, as well as the more than 18,400 people who perished in an earthquake off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, which was followed by a tsunami.
The latest number, which is almost certainly going to be revised higher, includes more than 18,000 individuals in Turkey and more than 3,000 people in Syria, which is now engulfed in civil conflict.
The scope of the destruction is hard to fathom, with whole high-rise communities reduced to twisted metal, pulverized concrete, and exposed cables. The destruction is almost beyond comprehension.
In spite of the fact that specialists believe those who are trapped might live for at least a week despite the frigid conditions, the likelihood of discovering survivors is decreasing.
Now, while rescue workers and worried family members continue to search through the wreckage for survivors, the attention is moving to the process of dismantling potentially unsafe buildings in order to avoid any further fatalities that aren’t required.
In the city of Kahramanmaras, which was the closest to the epicenter of the earthquake, a sports hall that was about the size of a basketball court was used as a temporary morgue to house and identify the dead.
Rescue activities proceeded in Kahramanmaras, despite the fact that it was obvious that many people who were trapped in fallen structures had already passed away.
One of the rescue workers was overheard lamenting the fact that the stench of death was becoming too much for him to take and that his mental condition was deteriorating.
In the meanwhile, in the northwestern part of Syria, the first United Nations supply trucks since the earthquake got to the rebel-controlled territory from Turkey just yesterday, despite the fact that the people there had undergone three days of terror with very little or no help.
Some of those who have been displaced have been able to find temporary housing in tents, stadiums, and other locations, while others have been forced to sleep outside because they have nowhere else to go.
The harsh winter weather, together with damage to roads and airports, has made it difficult for humanitarian organizations to reach many of the most isolated places in need of assistance.
Some people in Turkey have voiced their dissatisfaction with the government’s tardy response to recent events, a notion that might be problematic for President Erdogan at a time when he is engaged in a contentious campaign for re-election in May.
Over the course of the last two days, Erdogan has been to several places that have been impacted.
According to the body in charge of crisis management in Turkey, more than 110,000 rescue workers are now participating in the endeavor, and more than 5,500 vehicles, including tractors, cranes, bulldozers, and excavators have been transported.
According to the foreign ministry, 95 different nations have offered their assistance.
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