Earthquake miracles continue to be found.

Among them, a 17-year-old girl, rescued from the rubble on Thursday February 16 in Kahramanmaras, noted an AFP journalist.

Buried for 248 hours, she was conscious and was able to close and open her eyes, following the instructions of the medical teams, reported a rescuer.

Aleyna Ölmez, whose surname in Turkish means "the one who does not die", is one of the rare survivors still discovered in the ruins, despite the cold and the violence of the tremors.

In tears, her uncle embraced one by one the volunteers who rescued her.

"We were so happy. Seeing the joy of the family is incomparable," reacted Ismail, a rescuer.

Composed largely of minors from different towns in the country, these volunteers are always busy trying to find hypothetical survivors.

"All miners will tell you the same thing: 'We came here hoping to locate a sound from a survivor,'" replied one of them, Ali Akdogan.

"Even if the sound we locate is that of a cat, we will also try to save it".

Call for international help

As relief operations continue, the United Nations has appealed for international assistance to raise $1 billion for Turkey.

"The funding - which covers a period of three months - will assist 5.2 million people and enable aid organizations to step up their crucial support to government-led efforts" in earthquake-hit Turkey. most devastating land in the country in a century," Antonio Guterres wrote in a statement on Thursday.

"Turkey is home to the largest number of refugees in the world and has shown immense generosity to its neighbor Syria for years," insisted the UN chief, using the designation " Türkiye" instead of "Turkey", as Ankara has wanted since 2022.

"Now is the time for the world to support the people of Turkey, as they have done quite simply with others in search of help", added Antonio Guterres, specifying that "the needs were enormous, (that) the people were suffering and (that) there was no time to lose".

With AFP

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