Aleyna Olmez, 17 years old, was rescued 11 days after the magnitude 7.8 earthquakewhich destroyed entire cities and left 39,875 dead in southeastern Turkey and in Syria, AFP reported.
“She seemed fine. She opened and closed her eyes”explained Ali Akdoğan, a miner who participated in the rescue work in Kahramanmaras, a city near the epicenter of the quake.
“We have been working here, in this building, for a week now. We came hoping to hear something,” he said, adding that “we are happy when we find something alive, even if it is a cat.”
The girl’s uncle, crying, hugged all the rescuers one by one, and said: “We will never forget them”.
The NTV channel later indicated that Neslihan Kilic, a woman in her twenties, was rescued 258 hours after the first tremor in that same city.
According to CNN Türk, more than 250 people died in the complex where the young Kilic was found alive.
Latest death toll in Turkey and Syria
According to the latest balances of the authorities and doctors, at least 36,187 people died in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria because of the earthquake, which occurred on February 6, and its aftershocks.
After 11 days of searching, the emergency services continue to search for people to rescue, a task that becomes more difficult with each passing hour, while Turkey has already suspended rescue efforts in some regions.
The same measure was taken by the government of Syria, a country at war, in the areas under its control.
In areas that remain active, Teams from France, Australia, Spain, Romania and Argentina collaborate in rescue and humanitarian aid tasksamong others.
The group that Argentina sent to Turkey managed to save three people alive yesterday in the town of Hatay, one of the most devastated in Turkish territory, a fact that the brigade members described as “a miracle after so many days of the earthquake”.
Teams of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, work on the ground to provide emergency aid to families affected by the disaster.
With heavy winter storms battering the region and compounding the suffering of survivors, families are in dire need of shelter and emergency assistance. UNHCR is already working on the ground in Syria, providing basic necessities such as thermal blankets, mattresses and other basic humanitarian aid materials. From Argentina you can collaborate with assistance by entering www.fundacionacnur.org.
Source: Ambito
