Threat of ‘secondary disaster’ as dramatic rescues offer relief

But in Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter of Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, NBC News witnessed one of the many rescues that offered a glimmer of hope to the millions affected.

Dozens of rescuers clambered around a 57-year old woman, who was still conscious when she was pulled from the wreckage of a building. 

Wrapped in a gold-colored emergency blanket, she was rushed to the hospital. 

It was Murat Kucuktecer, one of the many rescuers at the site, who had first heard the woman’s voice. She survived days under the rubble because she was trapped in an air pocket that was insulated, Kucuktacer told NBC News.

“She was inside a 20-inch space where there was enough air, that’s how she survived,” he said. “It was a miracle, thank God.”

“This is the eighth person I’ve rescued alive. God willing, I still have hope,” he added, smiling, as he stood in front of craggy rubble and jagged wires rising from the ground. 

In Gaziantep, there were tears of joy early Friday when 17-year-old Adnan Muhammed Korkut was pulled from the rubble fully conscious, after 94 hours trapped in the basement of an apartment building that had collapsed. 

Unable to move for four days and determined not to starve to death, the teenager survived by drinking his own urine, according to news agencies. 

Video showed that his mother, Buket Pakize, sobbed with joy, embraced and kissed him as he was carried out on a stretcher.

“My son doesn’t leave me alone for one hour. God blessed my son, who doesn’t leave me alone for one hour. May everyone else be blessed as well,” she said, as those around her responded hopefully, “Amen.” 

Brimming with joy, one of the rescuers — a woman called Yasmen — embraced the teenager who seemed remarkably lucid after his ordeal. 

“I have a son just like you. I swear to you, I have not slept for four days,” she said, as she tenderly held Korkut’s face while he looked on with tears in his eyes. “I was trying to get you out, I love you very much.”

Despite the moments of joy on the ground, the death toll continued to rise and the focus was also turning to fears of a ‘secondary disaster’ for those still lacking warm shelter, food and water across the border region, which is home to more than 13.5 million people.

The World Health Organization said that survivors desperately needed vital support providing basic necessities such as clean water and shelter in worsening weather conditions.

“We are in real danger of seeing a secondary disaster which may cause harm to more people than the initial disaster, if we don’t move with the same intention and intensity as we are doing on the search and rescue side,” said WHO incident manager for the earthquake, Rob Holden at a WHO news conference Wednesday.