28,000 deaths, 6,000 buildings collapsed, hundreds of aftershocks – Turkey has been reeling under the aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on Monday. But in the midst of destruction and despair, miraculous tales of survival continue to emerge.
A two-month-old baby was yesterday rescued from under the rubble in Turkey’s Hatay as the crowd clapped and cheered. The child was found alive nearly 128 hours after the earthquake.
Thousands of rescue workers are still scouring through flattened neighbourhoods despite freezing weather that has deepened the misery of millions now in desperate need of aid.
Among those who were rescued five days after the quake are a two-year-old girl, a six-month pregnant woman and a 70-year-old woman, Turkish media reported.
Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake, with several powerful aftershocks across Turkey and Syria, ranks as the world’s seventh deadliest natural disaster this century, approaching the 31,000 killed by a quake in neighbouring Iran in 2003.
With a death count so far of 24,617 inside Turkey, it is the country’s deadliest earthquake since 1939. More than 3,500 have died in Syria, where tolls have not been updated since Friday.
