quake in Turkey How I survived with my 10dayold baby

quake in Turkey: ‘How I survived with my 10dayold baby buried’

Item Information

  • Author, Alice Cuddy*
  • Scroll, from BBC News in Samandag (Turkey)
  • 1 hour ago

A week ago earthquakes shook Turkey and Syria, killing thousands. But amid the despair were tales of “miracles.” This is one of them.

When Necla Camuz gave birth to her second child on January 27, she named them Yagiz, which means “brave.”

Just ten days later, at 4:17 a.m. local time, Necla was awake feeding her son at her home in Hatay province in southern Turkey. Moments later, they were buried under rubble.

Necla and her family lived on the second floor of a modern fivestory building in the city of Samandag. It was a “cool building” that she felt safe in, as she put it.

But that morning, the area was devastated by an earthquake, leaving damaged and destroyed buildings on every corner.

“When the earthquake started, I wanted to go to my husband who was in the other room and he wanted to do the same,” she says.

“But when he tried to get to me with our other son, the wardrobe fell on them and they were unable to move.”

“As the earthquake grew stronger, the wall collapsed, the room shook, and the building shifted. When it all stopped, I didn’t realize I had fallen an entire floor. I called their names but got no answer.”

The 33yearold Turkish woman found herself with the baby on her chest, still in her arms. An adjacent wardrobe saved their lives and prevented a large concrete slab from crushing them.

The two would remain in this position for nearly four days.

First day

Lying under the rubble in her pajamas, Necla could see nothing but “darkness”. She had to rely on her other senses to understand what was going on.

To her relief, she immediately noticed that Yagiz was still breathing.

She struggled to catch her breath at first because of the dust, but the dust soon cleared. She managed to keep warm amidst the debris.

She felt like there were children’s toys underneath her, but she couldn’t move to check it or to find a more comfortable position.

Except for the closet, the soft skin of her newborn son, and the clothes they wore, she felt nothing but concrete and rubble.

In the distance she could hear voices. She tried to scream for help and pound on the wardrobe.

“Is someone there? Can you hear me?” She called.

When that didn’t work, she picked up the pieces of debris that had fallen beside her. She banged the pieces against the cabinet, hoping the sound would draw attention. She was afraid that hitting the surface above her would cause a collapse.

But still there was no answer.

Necla realized there was a chance no one would come.

“I was scared,” she says.

life under the rubble

In the darkness beneath the rubble, Necla lost all sense of time.

“There’s a lot of planning when you’re having a new baby, and then… you’re suddenly under rubble,” she says.

Still, she knew she had to take care of Yagiz and managed to breastfeed him even in a confined space.

But there was neither water nor food. In desperation, she tried unsuccessfully to drink her own breast milk.

Necla felt jackhammers being turned overhead and heard footsteps and voices, but the muffled sounds seemed far away.

She decided to conserve her energy and stay calm unless the noises started getting really close.

caption,

Necla was buried under this rubble

She kept thinking about her family the baby on her breast and her husband and son lost somewhere in the rubble.

She was also concerned about the hardship of other family members from the earthquake.

Necla didn’t think she would get out of the rubble. But Yagiz’s presence gave her reason to remain hopeful.

He slept most of the time, and when he woke up crying, she would feed him in silence until he calmed down.

The rescue

After more than 90 hours under the rubble, Necla heard dogs barking. She wondered if perhaps she was dreaming.

The barking was followed by a babble of voices.

“Are you all right? If so, knock once,” a voice called into the rubble. “What apartment do you live in?”

Finally she had been found.

Rescuers carefully cleared the debris to find her while holding Yagiz.

The darkness was broken by a flashlight shining in his eyes.

When the Istanbul City Fire Department rescue team asked how old Yagiz was, Necla wasn’t sure. All she knew was that he was 10 days old when the earthquake hit.

caption,

Yagiz became famous when he was rescued with his mother

After handing Yagiz over to the rescuers, Necla was carried away on a stretcher in front of a large crowd. She couldn’t see any faces.

When she was taken to an ambulance, she asked for confirmation that her other child had also been saved.

After the rubble

Upon her arrival at the hospital, Necla was met by family members who informed her that her husband Irfan and their threeyearold son Yigit Kerim had been rescued from the rubble.

But hours later they were taken to a hospital in Adana province with serious injuries to their legs and feet.

caption,

Necla was reunited with her husband Irfan and their son Yigit Kerim.

Incredibly, Necla and Yagiz sustained no serious injuries. They were kept in the hospital for observation for 24 hours and then discharged.

Necla no longer had a home, but a relative sheltered her in a makeshift blue tent made of wood and canvas. 13 people live there all have lost their homes.

In the tent, the family supports each other, makes coffee, plays chess and tells stories.

Necla is still “trying” to come to terms with what happened to her. She says she saved her own life thanks to Yagiz.

“I think if my baby wasn’t strong enough to handle it, I wouldn’t have been either,” she explains.

Her only dream for her son is that he never goes through anything like this again.

“I’m really happy that he’s a newborn baby and doesn’t remember anything,” she says.

When her phone rings, Necla smiles. From a hospital bed, Irfan and Yigit Kerim smile and wave.

“Hello warrior, how is my son?” Irfan asks her baby through the screen.