Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ISTANBUL: As rescue workers retrieved a woman from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Turkiye, hope has been kindled for more survivors.
After hearing signs of life beneath the debris, rescue workers on Wednesday called for silence at a fallen apartment building in Iskenderun, the southern city of Turkey.
The collapsed building’s residents stopped talking while cranes and other machinery nearby were switched off.
After minutes of silence, confirming that a woman had been found alive, rescuers called for an ambulance. The crowd broke into tears and cheers.
First-time survivor discovered from building
Witnesses told the BBC that it was the first time a survivor has been discovered at the six-storey apartment building since Monday’s earthquake reduced it to ruins.
Volunteers and rescue workers quickly formed a chain to carry the woman to a waiting ambulance.
The inhabitants said she was a single mother in her 50s who lived alone in the building. They added that her son stood by the ambulance and watched as she was carried down.
Several onlookers said it gave them renewed hope that their missing loved ones would be found. One said she was hoping for a “miracle.”
With happiness and excitement, rescue workers hugged as the woman was taken away, a rare moment of hope and joy among so much devastation. The mood at the Iskenderun apartment block quickly became somber again as rescuers resumed the slow work of searching the rubble, mainly by hand.
Local doctor Mehmet Riyat told the BBC that medical staff had been overwhelmed since Monday. “We’ve had patients who have been crushed. We’ve seen many broken bones, necks, and head injuries. And lots of deaths. As doctors, we have to do our jobs. But when the support teams take over, we think about our own families,” he said.
There is destruction everywhere you turn in Iskenderun – many buildings have been destroyed, including a busy hospital.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit back on Wednesday at mounting anger over the state’s response to the disaster. Critics have said emergency efforts have been too slow and that more was needed to prepare the earthquake-prone region by his government. But Erdogan said: “It’s not possible to be prepared for a big disaster.”
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck early on Monday morning near the southern city of Gaziantep, which is close to the Syrian border. The death toll currently stands at more than 11,000 people across both countries.
