72 hours in and the clock is against earthquake victims awaiting rescue

Wife waits for days outside ruined high-rise, as she refuses to give up hope missing husband is alive

His last words, shouted amid the thunder of cracking walls and concrete, haunt her: ‘The building is coming down’

‘This is the fault of government ... we paid a lot of money. It was supposed to be for cranes to help with recoveries. It’s not good enough’

For the hundreds, perhaps thousands, still trapped in collapsed apartment buildings in southern Turkey and northern Syria, time is running out. The human will to survive may burn strong but the body fades fast beyond the 72-hour mark without warmth and sustenance.

Secil Arnas is one of countless Turks who continue to hope that their loved ones will survive. Her husband, Fatih, is buried under the remains of a 16-storey building in central Adana, where for three days she has kept a constant vigil.

At 4.15am on Monday, as the region was rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, Mrs Arnas spoke to her husband for 41 seconds on a phone before the line went dead.

His last words, shouted amid the thunder of cracking walls and groaning concrete, haunt her: “The building is coming down.”

Experts caution that the chances of finding people alive after three days fall dramatically, yet Mrs Arnas, and thousands like her, find comfort in hope. “When the phone cut out, I came straight here,” she says. “I won’t sleep until Fatih is out.”

Over and over again yesterday, her resolve was cruelly put to the test as calls for silence rang out across the mangled concrete and steel.

“There was a voice calling for help,” calls out one of the rescue workers, urging quiet so that the source of the sound can be isolated. The crowds – a restless hive of families, friends and neighbours huddle around makeshift bonfires – stop in their tracks, praying that it will be their loved one who will be pulled from the wreckage.

Mrs Arnas rises to her feet, in hopeful anticipation of a miracle, but it’s another false alarm.

“They cannot stop,” says Secil, 39, whose husband had been visiting his parents when Monday’s earthquakes struck.

The scale of destruction in the region, which has been hit by many earthquakes, is yet to be precisely determined – but all agree it is vast.

Entire neighbourhoods have been levelled, roads ripped open and oil pipelines destroyed, setting the landscape ablaze in apocalyptic scenes.

But infrastructure damage pales in comparison to the human cost. The World Health Organisation estimates that the final death toll may pass 20,000 – the most Turkey has suffered in an earthquake since 1999. Many of these lives are likely to be lost in the coming hours because people cannot be dug out in time.

“The window for … search-andrescue is rapidly closing,” said Ilan Kelman, a professor of disasters and health at University College London. “Few survivors are pulled out after 72 hours.” The professor explains that after earthquakes many die from immediate medical needs, such as bleeding or succumbing to crush injuries from collapsing walls, flying glass and falling objects.

Although Adana has not reported as much devastation as other cities, its hospitals are struggling with a large number of patients suffering from severe injuries sustained during the earthquake, according to local media.

Prof Kelman said others will perish in the freezing temperatures that have gripped parts of south-east Turkey.

“People die through hypothermia,” he added, and victims become drowsy and confused, making it difficult for them to call out for help before they slip into unconsciousness and die. Many succumb due to lack of food and water, Prof Kelman said.

But the people of Turkey wait and pray. “There’s always hope from God,” says Durdane Arnas, a relative of Mr Arnas. Seven of her relatives were in the high-rise that fell in Adana: two were killed, two survived, and a niece and two nephews are unaccounted for.

Some believe the authorities are not doing enough.

Cem Burke, 27, says more cranes and diggers should be made available and he accuses the government of failing to properly invest taxes levied for improving earthquake response measures.

“This is the government’s fault,” he says, pointing to a concrete tomb filled with bodies. “We paid a lot of money for this. It was supposed to be for cranes to help with recoveries – it’s not good enough.”