Turkey-Syria earthquake: Experts say up to a week or more, but it depends on their injuries, how they are stuck and the weather conditions. Search teams from around the world have joined local emergency workers in Turkey and Syria to look for victims of this week’s devastating earthquake that killed thousands.
Most rescues happen in the first 24 hours after a disaster. After that, the chances of survival decrease as each day passes, experts say. Many victims are badly injured or buried by falling stones or other debris.
Access to water and air to breathe are important factors as well, along with weather. Freezing weather in Syria and Turkey has hampered rescue efforts and temperatures have dropped well below freezing.
“Generally, it is rare to find survivors after the fifth to seventh day, and most search and rescue teams will consider holding off until then,” said Dr. Jaron Lee, an emergency and disaster medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
But, there are many stories of people surviving past the seven-day mark. Unfortunately, these are usually rare and exceptional cases.”
Dr. George Chiampas, an emergency medicine specialist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg Medical School, said people with traumatic injuries, including crush injuries and limb amputations, face the most significant survival window.
“If you don’t get them out in an hour, that golden hour, there’s really very little chance of survival,” he said.
Chiampas said people who have other diseases whose health depends on the drugs also face difficulties. Age, physical and mental condition are all serious.
“You see a lot of different scenarios where we’ve had some really miraculous rescues and people have survived in terrible circumstances.
“They tend to be young people and have been lucky to have either found a pocket in the rubble or found some way to access essential elements like air and water.”
Some miraculous cases of survival:
Following the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, a teenager and his 80-year-old grandmother were found alive after being trapped in their flattened home for nine days. A year ago, a 16-year-old Haitian girl was rescued from the rubble of an earthquake in Port-au-Prince after 15 days.
Mental state can also affect survival. Chiampas said people trapped next to bodies, with no contact with other survivors or rescuers, may be losing hope.
“If you have someone alive, you’re leaning on each other to keep fighting,” he said.
(with AP inputs)
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