Hope amid the rubble as baby is found alive
Source: Agencies |
October 26, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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A TWO-WEEK-OLD baby girl, her mother and grandmother were pulled alive from the rubble of an apartment building in a dramatic rescue yesterday, 48 hours after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake toppled some 2,000 buildings in eastern Turkey.
Television footage showed a rescuer, Kadir Direk, in an orange jumpsuit squeezing into the hulk of crushed concrete and metal to free the baby. The infant, named Azra Karaduman, was wrapped in a blanket and handed over to a medic amid a scrum of media and applauding emergency workers.
Close to 500 aftershocks have rattled the area since Sunday, according to Turkey's Kandilli seismology center, and a moderately strong one yesterday, measuring 5.4, sent residents rushing into the streets.
Authorities said the death toll had jumped to 432 as rescuers in Ercis and the provincial capital, Van, raced against time to free dozens of people trapped inside mounds of concrete, twisted steel and construction debris. At least nine people were rescued yesterday, although many more bodies were discovered.
Authorities have warned survivors in the mainly Kurdish area not to enter damaged buildings, and thousands spent a second night outdoors in cars or tents in near-freezing conditions, afraid to return to their homes. Some 1,350 people were injured.
There was still no power or running water and aid distribution was disrupted as desperate people stopped trucks even before they entered Ercis. Aid workers said they were able to find emergency shelter for only half those who needed it.
The baby's mother, Semiha, and grandmother, Gulsaadet, were huddled together, with the baby clinging to her mother's shoulder when rescuers found them, Direk, the emergency worker, said. There was a bakery at the ground floor of the building, which may have kept them warm, he said.
The baby was in good health but was flown to a hospital in Ankara, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.
"Bringing them out is such happiness. I wouldn't be happier if they gave me tons of money," said rescuer Oytun Gulpinar.
The Hurriyet newspaper reported the family live in Sivas, central Turkey, but were visiting the girl's grandmother and grandfather.
Meanwhile, nine-year-old Oguz Isler was rescued along with his sister and cousin, but yesterday he was waiting at the foot of the same pile of debris that was his aunt's apartment block for news of his parents and of other relatives who remain buried inside. Dogs sniffed for possible survivors in gaps that opened up as their work progressed.
"They should send more people," Oguz said as he and other family members watched the rescuers. A cousin comforted him.
Rescue teams from throughout Turkey have rushed to the area, while Turkish Red Crescent dispatched tents and blankets and set up soup kitchens. Some residents complained that they could not get tents and stoves for their families. The Milliyet newspaper yesterday reported fistfights in front of some aid trucks. "The aid is coming in but we're not getting it. We need more police, soldiers," resident Baran Gungor said.
Turkish Red Crescent director Omer Tasli admitted shortfalls in sheltering all the survivors. "We couldn't cover ... all the families," he said. "Now just maybe 50 percent of them (are) under a tent."
The government said it would set up temporary homes and begin planning to rebuild destroyed areas.
Television footage showed a rescuer, Kadir Direk, in an orange jumpsuit squeezing into the hulk of crushed concrete and metal to free the baby. The infant, named Azra Karaduman, was wrapped in a blanket and handed over to a medic amid a scrum of media and applauding emergency workers.
Close to 500 aftershocks have rattled the area since Sunday, according to Turkey's Kandilli seismology center, and a moderately strong one yesterday, measuring 5.4, sent residents rushing into the streets.
Authorities said the death toll had jumped to 432 as rescuers in Ercis and the provincial capital, Van, raced against time to free dozens of people trapped inside mounds of concrete, twisted steel and construction debris. At least nine people were rescued yesterday, although many more bodies were discovered.
Authorities have warned survivors in the mainly Kurdish area not to enter damaged buildings, and thousands spent a second night outdoors in cars or tents in near-freezing conditions, afraid to return to their homes. Some 1,350 people were injured.
There was still no power or running water and aid distribution was disrupted as desperate people stopped trucks even before they entered Ercis. Aid workers said they were able to find emergency shelter for only half those who needed it.
The baby's mother, Semiha, and grandmother, Gulsaadet, were huddled together, with the baby clinging to her mother's shoulder when rescuers found them, Direk, the emergency worker, said. There was a bakery at the ground floor of the building, which may have kept them warm, he said.
The baby was in good health but was flown to a hospital in Ankara, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.
"Bringing them out is such happiness. I wouldn't be happier if they gave me tons of money," said rescuer Oytun Gulpinar.
The Hurriyet newspaper reported the family live in Sivas, central Turkey, but were visiting the girl's grandmother and grandfather.
Meanwhile, nine-year-old Oguz Isler was rescued along with his sister and cousin, but yesterday he was waiting at the foot of the same pile of debris that was his aunt's apartment block for news of his parents and of other relatives who remain buried inside. Dogs sniffed for possible survivors in gaps that opened up as their work progressed.
"They should send more people," Oguz said as he and other family members watched the rescuers. A cousin comforted him.
Rescue teams from throughout Turkey have rushed to the area, while Turkish Red Crescent dispatched tents and blankets and set up soup kitchens. Some residents complained that they could not get tents and stoves for their families. The Milliyet newspaper yesterday reported fistfights in front of some aid trucks. "The aid is coming in but we're not getting it. We need more police, soldiers," resident Baran Gungor said.
Turkish Red Crescent director Omer Tasli admitted shortfalls in sheltering all the survivors. "We couldn't cover ... all the families," he said. "Now just maybe 50 percent of them (are) under a tent."
The government said it would set up temporary homes and begin planning to rebuild destroyed areas.
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