The death toll from the earthquake has crossed 11,700, and is expected to rise. (file)
Besnaya, Syria:
Malek Ibrahim stepped out of his house after the earthquake in Syria and thought he could breathe a sigh of relief. But 30 relatives elsewhere are yet to be traced.
For the past two days, Ibrahim has been doggedly digging through rubble with his hands as he searches for family members who were buried in Monday’s deadly earthquake that struck both Syria and Turkey.
So far, he has managed to retrieve 10 bodies, with the help of residents and rescuers in Besnaya, a village in the northwest on the Turkish border that was badly hit by the disaster.
His uncle, his cousins and their families were all buried under the rubble.
The dirt-covered 40-year-old man said, “The whole family is gone. It’s a complete massacre.”
He, his wife and their children managed to escape alive from their home in the city of Idlib.
But he said he had little hope that any members of his family would have survived when they were hit by the collapsed building in Besnaya.
“Every time we recover a body, I remember the beautiful times we had together,” he said in tears as he used a spade to clear away yet more debris.
Piles of rubble now lie scattered across a serene and idyllic landscape surrounded by olive groves.
“We used to have fun and joke, but never again … I will never see them again.”
More than 11,700 people died in the earthquake, including more than 2,600 in war-torn Syria.
When a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck at dawn on Monday, Ibrahim, his wife and eight children fled their home in Idlib, in the rebel-held northwest.
They moved there from the southern part of the province following violence in Syria’s long-running war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions since 2011.
Ibrahim’s family remained outside in the rain for hours as dozens of buildings collapsed to the ground.
As soon as he heard that his family’s building had collapsed in Besnaya, he moved to the city of Idlib, 40 kilometers (25 mi) away.
‘a ruined people’
“We dig without sleep, hoping someone might be alive,” he said, although he knows in his heart the chances are slim.
“It is a feeling I cannot describe, a tragedy,” he said, “we are a cursed people in every sense of the word.”
The earthquake flattened entire blocks of buildings in Besnaya.
Dozens of residents, fighters and rescue workers gathered above the ruins, digging through the rubble and calling down to any survivors – in the hope that someone would respond.
They have wept with joy when they rescue a survivor, and have comforted families anxiously awaiting news of trapped relatives.
About 20 kilometers south, in the village of Ramadia, Ayman Diri wept as she searched for her brother and eight nephews in the rubble.
After hours of struggle, the rescuers pulled out the body of his 12-year-old nephew.
Diri said he had not given up hope that someone might be alive, especially after rescuers managed to rescue other people trapped under the collapsed building.
Looking at the pulverized concrete slab, he said, “We can only hope for the best… although we can see the condition of the building.”
“May God have mercy on my brother, whether he lives or dies.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
featured video of the day
“It Was Very Tough”: Indian Students In Istanbul On Turkey Earthquake