Elif, the miracle child of the Smyrna earthquake

• Earthquake: At least 41 dead and almost 900 injured in a strong earthquake in Turkey and Greece

Rivers of tears have been running through

since last Friday but this Monday morning they were of joy.

a little girl of only three years old, came out alive from under the rubble with her little hand gripping the thumb of her rescuer, the firefighter

who never lost his discouragement to work this miracle that has shocked the entire country, including to its president: "Get well soon, sweetie,"

The little girl spent 65 hours in what her rescuers have defined as "a life hole", formed by a kitchen chair that overturned on her, preventing her from being crushed.

On Friday, she was with her mother,

and her four brothers in the

apartment block in the

district

one of eight that completely collapsed in Izmir as a result of the 7-magnitude earthquake. The mother and two twin sisters They were saved on Saturday, but he lost his brother Umut.

Muammer Çelik,

hailed as a hero, has described the anguish of the hours before the miracle: "His father told me 'I am ready for anything, I am prepared for everything', to which I replied: 'God works miracles. Maybe we'll see one here, don't give up, '"the lifeguard, employed in a fire station in

, explained to the media

Despite the fact that they searched for hours without stopping in search of it, and the regret increased by the minute, a sign of life at dawn changed everything.

In the first rays of sunlight, Elif came out conscious, her eyes wide.

"Elif took my finger ... I wiped her face, dusted her off. I took her with a partner, but she kept holding my finger until we got to the infirmary. This girl deserves to live until the end," the firefighter stressed. visibly excited and elevated to hero of the day.

There are dozens of professionals who, like him, continue to work piecemeal to work other miracles.

They have rescued more than a hundred people alive.

Elif, at the moment of the rescue, clinging to her savior.IZMIR TRACvia REUTERS

On Sunday night they managed to get a teenager,

14

alive

.

Like Elif, whom television cameras have shown in a bed waving, Idil is under observation for the possible adverse effects of having spent so many hours restrained and immobilized, but with a favorable prognosis.

But, as time goes by, most of the people who were trapped under the rubble emerge lifeless.

It is believed, therefore, that the death toll, which

could exceed one hundred in the next few hours.

There are about a thousand injured and hundreds of people who have been made homeless by an earthquake, in the third largest city in Turkey, which has been marked by a recurring controversy in a country usually shaken by earthquakes: the quality of the earthquakes. buildings, poor in many cases in which it was a question of welcoming workers from the fields.

Turkey treasures a black history around the so-called

literally translated as

They were buildings built on the outskirts of large cities during the last decades of the last century, responding to the urgent need for labor for industry, at the same time that agriculture lost economic value.

These constructions, despite lacking planning and being made with

were subsequently legalized.

According to the Turkish newspaper

seven people

for their connection to the buildings that collapsed.

Among those arrested are construction contractors and engineers.

Two more are wanted.

Meanwhile, the Turkish press echoes harsh statements by the researcher from the

"The quality of the concrete in the measurements we made in this region was much lower than it should be," he criticized.

"Citizens could show, when buying a house, the same sensitivity that they show when buying a mobile or a car."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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