Damascus: A Syrian baby girl, who was born under the rubble of her family’s house destroyed by the devastating earthquake in the town of Jenderes, northern Syria, on Monday, has been given a name and home.
The baby was still connected to her mother’s umbilical cord when she was discovered by rescuers.
The earthquake claimed the lives of her mother, father, and four of her siblings— three sisters and one brother, in addition to destroying her four-storey house.
She has been named Aya, which means ‘miracle’ in Arabic— by the hospital staff.
The video of Aya being rescued has widely been circulated on social media platforms, showing moments after the baby was pulled from the rubble by a rescuer, her umbilical cord still attached. He rushes her to aid while another man throws him a blanket to wrap her.
Aya was taken to a clinic in the nearby town of Afrin for treatment. She had bumps and bruises, was cold and was breathing hard.
As per media reports, Aya was found more than 10 hours after the earthquake. It is not clear when exactly she was born after the building collapsed, but her temperature dropped to 35 degrees Celsius, a critical level. She weighed 7 pounds (3.17 kilograms), which is a normal weight for a newborn; which indicates that the mother was about to complete her pregnancy.
“Her condition is stable, but some of her ribs are broken, and this will heal over time,” Dr Hani Maarouf told the German news agency.
Thousands of people had offered to adopt Aya after Monday’s earthquake.
As per a report by The Daily Telegraph, the director of the hospital, said that he has paid for Aya’s medical treatment so far, and will raise her as a member of his family if her surviving relatives – her cousins - are unable to take care of her.
In the case of the newborn, Aya, her father’s uncle, Salah Al-Badran, will take her immediately upon her discharge from the hospital.
But the house of Salah Al-Badran in the city of Jandris in northwestern Syria was completely destroyed. He told The Associated Press that although he and his family of 11 managed to escape from the one-story building, they are now living in a tent.
Aya is one of many children orphaned by the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday.
The death toll from the earthquake, which devastated Syria and neighbouring Turkey, had risen to more than 29,000 by Sunday — and is expected to rise further.
