How calls for help on social media save lives of earthquake victims On deceased mother’s umbilical cord: Syrian baby saved hours after earthquake

The rescue operations in Turkey and Syria are a race against time, the freezing cold and the threat of further aftershocks.

A first earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale shook parts of Turkey and Syria early Monday morning. The epicenter: Southeast Anatolia, in the immediate vicinity of the 2 million city of Gaziantep on the Turkish-Syrian border. A second strong quake was measured a few minutes later. And just before noon there was another earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale in the same region. Since then, several more aftershocks have rocked the region – shaking again on Wednesday morning.

Entire streets collapsed due to the quakes. Tens of thousands of people were buried asleep in their beds under the falling parts of the building. Thousands of people died, but some had their mobile phones at hand at the time of the accident, contacted them through various channels and begged for help.

“Friends, we are trapped under the rubble of the earthquake”

One of the most famous victims who initiated a video call is Turkish streamer Firat Yayla aka CharmQuell.

Early Tuesday morning, the Turk posted a video to his Instagram story, frantically explaining that he was trapped under rubble in Antakya district, Hatay province, with his mother.

Before ending the video by sharing his home address, he exclaimed in despair:

His call paid off. A few hours after the first video, he shared that he had been rescued. The gamer has not published an update about his mother yet.

“My Friends Saved Me”

Another appeal for help that had an effect was distributed by Boran Kubat through WhatsApp. The 20-year-old student was visiting relatives in the city of Malatya when the earthquake destroyed the home for him, his mother, grandmother and two uncles.

Hours later, the young man and his mother were pulled from a hollow in the ruins. The survivor gave an interview to the Turkish Anadolu Agency:

The other family members have not yet been found.

Another positive end story comes from Can Türker, a Twitter user. He pleads early in the morning just after the second earthquake on social media:

On Tuesday, he revealed that a friend risked his life to save the family after seeing the post.

People are still being rescued alive

Firat Yayla, Boran Kubat and Can Türker are among the lucky ones rescued after appeals on social media. But there are still countless reports floating around the internet from people who haven’t provided updates since calling for help. For example, the young Syrian whose video has been circulating on social media since last night. As he speaks into the camera, dust falls on him – and suddenly everything starts shaking again.

If they are still under the rubble, the chances of rescuing them alive are getting smaller and smaller. And the conditions are also dramatic for the survivors: temperatures around freezing make it difficult for them and many no longer have a roof over their heads.

While international aid teams arrive in Turkey to best support local forces in acts of violence – to recover the living and corpses – the Syrians are largely left to fend for themselves by the international sections. “Sometimes they dig through the rubble with their bare hands because the equipment to do so is prohibited,” said a statement from the foreign ministry in Damascus.

There are extensive exemptions from the sanctions for deliveries of food and medicine as part of humanitarian aid. But aid organizations still run into problems as they risk fines if they cooperate directly or indirectly with companies that support the Assad government, the sda ​​news agency said. Meanwhile, the US State Department insists that the sanctions do not exclude humanitarian aid.

Against all odds, there is still hope of finding survivors. On Wednesday, a woman was rescued alive after 52 hours from the ruins of a hotel in Kahramanmaras province. A 10-year-old girl was found alive by the army in Hatay. Or a boy rescued alive from the ruins of what used to be a five-story apartment building in the city of Antakya by Italian helpers. And Mohamed, a Syrian refugee child, also lay under the rubble of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Hatay. On a movie you can see the helpers offer the child water from the cap of a pet bottle as they save it.

And Swiss rescue teams have so far pulled four people alive from the rubble after the earthquake in the southern Turkish city of Hatay. The team is convinced that it can save more lives.

(yum)