On Friday, 11 days after earthquakes that claimed more than 45,000 lives, left millions homeless, and launched a massive relief effort, rescue crews in Turkey found three individuals still alive underneath collapsed structures.
Mosques all across the world held prayers for distant funerals for the deceased in Turkey and Syria, many of whom were unable to receive traditional funeral rites due to the catastrophe’s severe damage.
While many international rescue teams have departed the enormous earthquake zone, survivors are still overcoming all odds and crawling out from under countless destroyed homes.
40-year-old Hakan Yasinoglu was saved in the southern province of Hatay 278 hours after the initial 7.8-magnitude earthquake occurred on February 6 in the middle of the night, according to the Istanbul Fire Brigade.
“A genuine miracle”
In the past, the lives of Mustafa Avci, 34, and Osman Halebiye, 14 years old, were spared in Antakya, a historic city in Turkey that was formerly known as Antioch. Avci was put on a video call with his parents, who showed him his newborn child, as he was being carried away.
“I’d fully given up on hope. This truly is a miracle. They returned my son to me. When I first saw the debris, I believed that no one could be saved alive, “stated his father.
Later, in a hospital in Mersin, a tired Avci was reunited with his wife Bilge and daughter Almile.
According to experts, 24 hours after an earthquake is when most rescues take place. But, 15 days after Haiti’s devastating earthquake in 2010, a teenage girl was saved, raising the possibility that additional survivors may still be located.
The current death toll in Turkey is 39,672, making it the biggest catastrophe in Turkish modern history. However, given that 264,000 apartments were lost in the earthquake and that many individuals are still missing, this number is predicted to climb.
Authorities have confirmed more than 5,800 deaths in Syria, a neighbouring country that has been devastated by a civil conflict for more than ten years. For days, the toll has not altered.
The majority of the country’s fatalities have occurred in the northwest, which is under the hands of insurgents fighting President Bashar al-Assad. This conflict has hindered efforts to aid those who have been harmed by the earthquakes.
In the wake of the earthquakes, neither Turkey nor Syria have disclosed the number of individuals still missing.
Reuters
