LATAKIA, Syria (North Press) – Ibrahim spent five days under the rubbles, not knowing whether it was night or day until rescuers pulled him out.
Ibrahim Zakaria, 23, an earthquake survivor from the city of Jableh in Latakia Governorate, recalls the moment when the building collapsed. “My mother, sister, and I were together when the earthquake struck, and the building suddenly collapsed,” he said.
The young man, now recovering in Tishreen University Hospital in Latakia, said, “We passed out for a short time, and in 30 minutes,” choking on words he added, “my sister was gone. After that, we were barely alive; we had no food, no water, and no light, and we didn’t even know if it was day or night. In fact, we knew nothing at all for five days until the rescuers managed to free us,” he added.
For five days, the young man and his family screamed for help. Later, he found himself in an ambulance after being rescued with his mother without knowing what happened.
On February 6, the first earthquake with a 7.8 magnitude struck at 04:17 am local time near Gaziantep in Turkey, to be followed less than 12 hours later by a second slightly lesser magnitude earthquake in Kahramanmaras province.
The earthquakes destroyed many buildings across Turkey and Syria, with thousands of people trapped under the rubbles.
On Feb. 14, the Syrian government announced the final earthquake victim’s toll in areas under its control was 3.771 people varying between dead and injured.
The Syrian Health minister, Hassan al-Ghabbash, said, “The final death toll of the earthquake that struck Syria is 1.414 dead and 2.357 injured,” according to the state-run SANA News Agency.
Local media outlets reported that 805 people died and 1.131 were injured in Latakia alone.
The Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press recorded, via a network of civil activists in Latakia, the death of 873 people and the injury of 1.192.
The earthquake destroyed about 100 buildings, whereas 247 others are at risk of collapse.
Wael Hamoud, also an earthquake survivor, lies in the same hospital after experiencing the destruction in the moments the earthquake hit.
Hamoud, who hails from Tartus, was renting a house with several friends in the al-Asaliye neighborhood in Latakia, where he worked.
He narrates what he saw during the earthquake “Some people managed to escape; others died trying and were buried under the rubble.”
“People left their houses to escape the earthquake but were hit by debris falling from collapsing buildings,” he added.
Hamoud’s friends sustained injuries as well, varying between losing a limb, broken bones, and bruises.
Mayyas Dibo Idlibi, an earthquake survivor from al-Ramel al-Janoubi in Latakia, recalls the last words her sister said before dying under the rubbles, “I love you, Mom, forgive me.”
Idlibi told the details of the moment the earthquake hit up until she and her family were rescued, “We were asleep when the earthquake struck. My mother woke us up because the building was shaking.”
The young woman felt the balcony door was open, but before she could tell her mother, the building collapsed, trapping the whole family under the rubble.
“We screamed for help, but no one seemed to hear us. When my uncle found out what had happened to us, he came to the rescue. He managed to pull out my brother first, then my mother and me from under the rubbles. My sister was already dead. After that, they took us to the hospital,” she added.