3-year-old survives three days in quake rubble
Whenfirefightermuammercelik reached a 3-year-old girl trapped for three days under the rubble of a deadly earthquake in a Turkish coastal city, his heart sank. She was lying motionless, covered in dust, and he asked a colleague for a body bag.
But as Celik extended his arm to wipe her face, the child opened her eyes and grabbed hold of his thumb.
“That’s wherewesaw a miracle,” Celik of the Istanbul fire department’s search-and-rescue team told the Associated Press, recounting yesterday’s operation 65 hours after the quake hit, killing at least 94 people in Turkey and Greece.
It was the second dramatic rescue yesterday after a 14-year-old was also pulled out alive. Onlookers applauded with joy and wept with relief at both scenes in the Turkish city of Izmir, where the vast majority of the deaths and nearly 1000 injuries have occurred.
Theusgeological Survey rated the quake 7.0, though other agencies recorded it as less severe. Many buildings were completely reduced to rubble or saw several floors pancake in on themselves in Turkey, which has a mix of older buildings and cheap or illegal construction that does not withstand earthquakes well. Regulations have been tightened to strengthen or demolish older buildings, and urban renewal is underway in Turkish cities, but it is not happening fast enough.
Authorities detained nine people for questioning about six building collapses.
Celik, whose team was among severalwhotravelled to Izmir, said he found Elif Perincek lying on her back between her bed and a closet in a space that was just big enough for her.
“At first I was very upset,” he said. “Then I stretched outmyhand to clean her face and she grabbedmythumb. I froze because right before that moment, I had askedmyteam for a blanket and a body bag.”
His voice breaking with emotion, he added: “This is a firefighter’s joy.”
The child spent nearly three full days in the wreckage of her apartment and became the 106th person to be pulled alive from the rubble. Her mother and two sisters— 10-year-old twins— were rescued two days earlier. Her 6-year-old brother did not survive.
— AP