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A three-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble on Tuesday 91 hours after a powerful earthquake struck western Turkey, offering a ray of hope for grieving families as the death toll surpassed 100.
Rescuers and families have been riding waves of excitement, from deep pain to euphoric relief, depending on whether the bodies or survivors were pulled from the shattered flagstones of apartment buildings washed away by the powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Friday.
The quake, which was felt from Istanbul to Athens, killed two teenagers as they returned home from school on the Greek island of Samos, where a mini-tsunami washed away houses.
But most of the damage occurred in the Turkish Aegean resort city of Izmir, where the death toll reached 105 on Tuesday.
None of the Turkish coastal cities was hit harder than Bayrakli, a residential district dotted with seven- and eight-story apartment buildings, dozens of which were damaged or completely destroyed.
Rescuers, exhausted but determined on their fourth day on the 24-hour job, were zeroing out four buildings Tuesday, supported by drones surveying the scene.
The video shows the rescue of a boy who was found alive in the rubble of a collapsed apartment building almost three days after an earthquake struck Izmir, Turkey. https://t.co/Pei4GuIXut pic.twitter.com/EYBMZzGwRU
– CNN (@CNN) November 2, 2020
They erupted in cheers, applause and shouts of “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greater”, the moment they realized that they had rescued a girl named Ayda Gezgin.
“We have witnessed a miracle at the 91st hour,” Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer tweeted.
“The name of the miracle is Ayda,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted moments later.
“With his smiling eyes, he has inspired us with new hope. Thank God. Get well soon, my lovely little girl, ”wrote the Turkish leader.
– ‘So happy’ –
In the initial confusion, Turkish officials said the girl was four years old, before realizing she was only three.
She called her mother when she was taken to an ambulance waiting for her in a gold foil blanket, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
Anxious family members and survivors, many of them spending the cold night in tents a safe distance from the ruins, erupted into enthusiastic applause, some hugging and others crying.
“I asked him: Are you okay? I was curious to see if it was okay. She asked for ayran, ”said rescuer Ahmet Celik, referring to the salty yogurt drink.
“I told him that the ayran would come later,” he told AFP, laughing. “She loves ayran.”
Rescuers said they realized someone was still alive at the site Monday night, before working painstakingly to get to it.
“It was the voice of a child, a woman,” said his rescue partner Ibrahim Topal. “My friend Ahmet saw the hand, and when we opened (the space) a little more, Ayda’s face.”
Topal said the girl was discovered in the kitchen, in a small space created by the oven and other appliances.
“From the moment we heard its sound, it didn’t matter how tired we were. It gave us energy again, ”he told AFP. “We were so happy.”
The rescue came a day after a four-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy were found alive in the same district, encouraging rescuers, despite persistent fears of aftershocks.
Turkey has reported nearly 1,500 repeat tremors after the earthquake, including 44 that exceeded four in magnitude.
Friday’s earthquake was the deadliest in Turkey this year, after more than 40 people died in the eastern provinces of Elazig and Malatya in January.
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