A 13-year-old boy was rescued alive today after being trapped in the rubble of a building in Hatay province for 182 hourswhich collapsed last Monday due to the two major earthquakes that devastated the southeast of Turkey, and which have left more than 31,000 dead in this country and another 3,500 in Syria.
The rescue of little Kaan, shown live by the Halk TV station, is one of those that continue to take place slowly among the thousands of buildings that collapsed, and among which some experts estimate there may still be up to 155,000 bodies.
Four hours earlier, a 70-year-old woman and a 26-year-old girl had been rescued alive, after enduring 178 hoursboth in Antioch, capital of Hatay province.
In the province of Adiyaman, further north, a six-year-old girl was also saved this morning, after 176 hours in the rubble.
According to experts, the low temperatures, which these days have been close to zero even in the province of Hatay, the southernmost of those affected by the earthquake, can favor survival because they delay dehydration.
Most of the rescues in the last two days, which the Turkish press describes as “miraculous”, occurred in Hatay, one of the areas with the highest level of destruction as it was located right on a geological fault, despite its distance from the epicenter. of the earthquake.
How long can survivors be found?
The nurse from the Emergency Medical System (SEM) of Catalonia (Spain), an expert in assistance to trapped victims and survival, Ramón Pedrosa Cebador, explains, in an interview with EFE, that “it can take up to seven days before you lose hope of finding people alive” after an earthquake like the one that occurred a week ago in Turkey and Syria.
Pedrosa Cebador, who is a specialist in the so-called ‘crush syndrome’ and internship coordinator for the Master’s Degree in Health Emergencies and Emergencies at the International University of Catalonia (UIC), warns that many of the victims rescued from the rubble in Turkey and Syrians suffer from this syndrome, which leads to metabolic injuries and post-traumatic stress.
“The ‘crash syndrome’, or crush syndromeoccurs when a person is confined or buried and, four or six hours after being confined, the body begins to release toxins, such as hemoglobin or potassium, which can be harmful and lead to metabolic lesions, such as kidney failure or respiratory failure, and post-traumatic stress”, details the specialist in initial assistance to victims of the syndrome.
The affectation of this pathology is greater in “extreme ages”, that is, in advanced or pediatric ages, and in people with previous pathologies, such as heart disease or respiratory problems, since “the compensation mechanisms in both cases are not the same as those of a healthy adult, so they may have more important sequelae.
Assistance to trapped people
In the face of catastrophes of the magnitude of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, “medical first aid is essential”, and to carry it out “It is not necessary to be a doctor or nurse because they consist of having a first contact with the victimreassure her and ask her about her fears and concerns”, according to the nurse.
In addition to trauma, crush syndrome leaves psychological sequelae, which is why, according to the expert, it is necessary for teams of emergency psychologists to treat the post-traumatic stress of those affected, who “follow a process of recovery similar to that of soldiers or victims of war”.
“The first step in assisting a trapped person must be to identify them as salvageable. Then, a triage takes place to assess the priority of treatment, which consists of assigning a label to the victim with the color that corresponds to the priority with which it is considered that she should be treated ”, Pedrosa specifies.
People who present injuries incompatible with life are assigned a black label; to the victims with injuries of imminent risk of death, “priority to be treated”, a red one; and the yellow and green ones are, respectively, for “those whose treatment may be delayed and those with minor injuries.”
The “rescuing measures” come after this classification and consist of “administering oxygen, controlling hypothermia and, at most, administering intravenous fluids to rehydrate the patient”, who, once rescued, is transferred to a field hospital where “the triage is no longer basic, but advanced, and determines what type of treatment you should follow”.
“It is said that people can go a day without drinking and a week without eating, but the probability of finding the victims buried alive decreases significantly after 72 hours.although the United Nations argues that factors such as the buried person’s access to hydration or the construction material of the houses can extend the period up to five or seven days”, the specialist emphasizes.
The internship coordinator for the UIC master’s degree in health emergencies warns that “the conflict in Syria is complicating the arrival of material and humanitarian resources in the areas affected by the earthquake, due to political reluctance”, but he has no doubt that they will arrive, and he does not doubt the rescue efforts of the “field operative”.
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