Several factors affect the chances of survival. The degree of injury, of course, but also the presence of air and water, the weather or the person’s mental strength.
And suddenly, in the midst of fear and terror, moments of intense joy. Tuesday February 14, eight days after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria, a Syrian couple was found alive. A little earlier, on Monday, it was a woman who was able to get some fresh air after 175 hours in the cold, trapped under the rubble. “We’re incredulous ourselves every time, it seems completely crazy,” admits Hervé Roy, an emergency doctor who was mobilized notably after the earthquakes in Nepal in 2015, in Haiti in 2010 or in Iran in 2003.
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How could these miracles survive in such conditions for so long? In reality, “it will depend on several factors,” explains the man who heads the medical team at the NGO Secouristes sans frontières. “Starting with the severity of the injury: trapped victims who are injured and are losing blood unfortunately have little chance of survival.
Even in a huge concrete pocket, air can circulate through the debris. “I was calm. I knew I would be saved. I prayed. You could breathe under the ruins,” a Turkish miracle worker told NTV. Still, “as the hours go by, the problem of dehydration will become more prevalent,” Hervé Roy continues. The paramedic points out that all long-term survivors are lucky enough to have found a source of water, no matter how weak.
“The fact that it rained just before the earthquake saved lives. The victims could drink the running water.”
Hervé Roy, emergency doctor
at franceinfo
Also, without the ability to move, the human body slows down. “Victims will reduce their energy needs as much as possible, thereby increasing their lifespan in these extreme conditions,” the doctor continues. But the wintry conditions in Turkey make the situation much worse: at night it can go down to -4°C.
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The importance of mental strength
One factor that is often underestimated to explain the long prison terms of survivors: mental toughness. Arnaud Fraisse has not forgotten Hotteline, “that woman who came out alive in 2010 after eight days from under the rubble in Haiti.” “She explained to us that she put herself in a survival attitude, that she prayed a lot, that she knew that eventually we would arrive. She had an iron mind,” repeats the founder of Savior Without Borders, still moved.
“I was lying on the floor in a supermarket in the dark, unable to move, but I had enough room to breathe. I spent the days without eating or drinking.”
Hotteline, a Haitian survivor
at franceinfo
The survivor also recounts that he “tried to drink urine after two days but the taste wasn’t good at all and I gave up”. “I just sang, prayed and called for help,” she continues, affirming that her faith helped her endure under the rubble during those long hours. “It was my faith that saved me, it was the same faith that made me go so long without eating or drinking. Wherever I was, I kept repeating that phrase to myself, full of hope: ‘I, I won’t die, I have to live to tell the world about this experience’.”
The risk of “crush syndrome”
Another reality too: nothing guarantees survival afterwards. Especially people who have been rescued from the rubble can die from “crush syndrome”. “This phenomenon is common in disasters such as earthquakes in people trapped under collapsing or moving masonry,” says Dr. Jetri Regmi from WHO’s Global Health Emergencies Program told the BBC.
After the debris is cleared, the crushed organs actually produce toxins that spread the organism. The consequences can depend on the duration and intensity of the compression. “It can lead to cardiac arrhythmias and thus to cardiac arrest and thus to death,” begins with the mention of Hervé Roy.
“This can clog the kidneys, leading to acute kidney failure, which requires dialysis to cleanse the body. This can also cause musculoskeletal damage.”
Hervé Roy, emergency doctor
at franceinfo
Of the survivors found in Syria and Turkey, Hotteline says she feels “joy for them and a renewed sense of gratitude for the rescuers who risked their own lives for us.” She is also friends with Arnaud Fraisse, her rescuer: “She is fine, she lives in Boston, USA. I call her regularly.”