A baby girl who was born underneath the rubble of homes destroyed by the 7.8-magnitute earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey this week was given a reputation and residential.
The infant was found still attached to her mother through her umbilical cord underneath chunks of concrete and mangled metal in Jindayris, Syria greater than 10 hours after the quake devastated the country.
The infant’s mother, Abu Hadiya, was dead when rescuers found the pair. The kid’s father and 4 siblings also died, however the infant miraculously survived and was taken to a hospital.
Doctors aptly named the infant “Aya,” which is Arabic for “an indication from God,” The Guardian reported Thursday.
Orphaned, Aya was adopted by her great-uncle, Salah al-Badran, who will take her in once she is released from the hospital, the outlet reported.
Dr. Hani Maarouf said Aya’s condition is improving every day and he or she suffered no damage to her spine as originally feared.
The doctor said the newborn’s mother probably gave birth to the girl after which died within the rubble just a couple of hours before rescuers found them.
Dramatic footage of the newborn being rescued from the debris has been circulating on social media. The video shows a person running over the rubble with the dust-covered infant — her umbilical cord still dangling — in his hands as one other man throws a blanket to cover her.
Aya’s body temperature had fallen to 95 degrees Fahrenheit and he or she was rushed to Cihan Hospital in Afrin for treatment and kept on an incubator.
“Had the girl been left for an hour more, she would have died,” Maarouf said.
She was covered in bruises and cuts and had hypothermia, he added. The world had been hit with a winter storm on the time the earthquake struck.
Her great uncle, al-Badran, will take her home once she is in a position to be released, nevertheless his own house in Jenderis was leveled within the quake as well. He and his household of 11 live in a tent, he said.
“After the earthquake, there’s nobody in a position to live in his house or constructing. Only 10% of the buildings listed below are secure to live in and the remaining are unlivable,” al-Badran said.
The pre-dawn earthquake rocked each northern Syria and south-eastern Turkey as most individuals were asleep of their beds — killing greater than 21,000 people.