ERCIS, Turkey — After 48 hours, a miracle emerged from the rubble: A 2-week-old baby was brought out alive from the wreckage of an apartment building toppled by Turkey’s devastating earthquake.
Rescue workers erupted in cheers and applause Tuesday at the sight of the infant — and again hours later when her mother and grandmother were pulled out alive, their survival a ray of joy on an otherwise grim day.
Early today, an 18-year-old university student also was found injured but alive at a crumpled multistory apartment building, Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Anatolia said rescue workers evacuated Eyup Erdem from the wreckage. His father, Salih Erdem, said his son moved to the town a month ago to study mechanics at a university.
The death toll from Sunday’s 7.2-magnitude quake climbed to at least 459 as desperate survivors fought over aid and blocked aid shipments. A powerful aftershock ignited widespread panic that turned into a prison riot in a nearby provincial city.
With thousands of quake survivors facing a third night out in the open in near-freezing temperatures, Turkey set aside its national pride and said it would accept international aid offers, even from Israel, with which it has had strained relations.
The pockets of jubilation over finding survivors were tempered by many more discoveries of bodies by thousands of aid workers in the worst-hit city of Ercis and other communities in eastern Turkey devastated by the quake.
About 2,000 buildings collapsed, but because the quake hit in daytime, when many people were out of their homes, an even worse disaster was averted.
Nearly 500 aftershocks have rattled the area, according to Turkey’s Kandilli seismology center. A 5.7-magnitude one Tuesday sent residents rushing into the streets in panic while sparking a prison riot in the city of Van, 55 miles south of Ercis. Some prisoners demanded to be let out, while others set bedding on fire as the revolt spread inside the 1,000-bed prison, the Dogan news agency reported. Security forces surrounded the facility to prevent escapes, while military vehicles fired water cannons at crowds gathered outside in the streets.
There still was no power or running water in the region, and desperate people stopped trucks even before they entered Ercis, grabbing tents and other supplies. Kanal D television showed people fighting over tents and blankets.
Aid workers said they were able to find emergency housing for only about half the thousands of people who needed it.
