…thousands offer to adopt baby pulled from rubble
More than 20,000 people are now known to have been killed in Monday’s earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, though the UN warns the disaster’s full extent is still unclear.
Rescuers are still searching rubble for survivors, but hopes are fading more than four days since the first quake, reports the BBC.
Freezing conditions threaten the lives of thousands of survivors who are now without shelter, water and food.
Turkey’s president called the quake “the disaster of the century”.
A major international relief effort is gathering pace. On Thursday the World Bank pledged $1.78bn in aid to Turkey including immediate finance for rebuilding basic infrastructure and to support those affected by the earthquakes.
But the efforts of 100,000 or more rescue personnel on the ground are being hampered by a number of logistical hurdles including vehicle shortages and devastated roads.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the full extent of the catastrophe was still “unfolding before our eyes”, especially in Syria where a long-running civil war has devastated the country.
On Thursday, the first UN humanitarian aid crossed the border into north-western Syria through Idlib’s Bab al-Hawa crossing. The crossing is the only way UN aid can reach the region without travelling through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
Meanwhile, thousands of people have offered to adopt the baby girl who was born under the rubble of a collapsed building in north-west Syria, following Monday’s earthquake.
When she was rescued, baby Aya – meaning miracle in Arabic – was still connected to her mother by her umbilical cord.
Her mother, father and all four of her siblings died after the quake hit the town of Jindayris.
Aya is now in hospital.
“She arrived on Monday in such a bad state, she had bumps, bruises, she was cold and barely breathing,” said Hani Marouf, the paediatrician looking after her.
She is now in stable condition.
Videos of Aya’s rescue went viral on social media. Footage showed a man sprinting from the collapsed debris of a building, holding a baby covered in dust.
Khalil al-Suwadi, a distant relative, who was there when she was pulled to safety, brought the newborn to Dr Marouf in the Syrian city of Afrin.
Thousands of people on social media have now asked for details to adopt her.
The hospital manager, Khalid Attiah, says he has received dozens of calls from people all over the world wanting to adopt baby Aya.
Dr Attiah, who has a daughter just four months older than her, said, “I won’t allow anyone to adopt her now. Until her distant family return, I’m treating her like one of my own.”
For now, his wife is breastfeeding her alongside their own daughter.
In Aya’s home town of Jindayris, people have been searching through collapsed buildings for loved ones.
A journalist there, Mohammed al-Adnan told the BBC, “The situation is a disaster. There are so many people under the rubble. There are still people we haven’t got out yet.”
He estimated that 90% of the town had been destroyed and most of the help so far had come from local people.
