Editor’s Note: Dr. Elif Ozdogan (she/her) is a second-year resident physician in Pediatrics at The Boston Combined Residency Program at Boston Children's Hospital and Boston Medical Center. She is interested in quality improvement and computational research and hopes to pursue further training in Transplant Medicine. -Rachel Y. Moon, MD, Associate Editor, Digital Media, Pediatrics
On a freezing cold February 2023 night, towards the early morning hours a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southeast Türkiye (previously known as Turkey). Seismologists describe a 7.0 magnitude quake as having the energy equivalent to 32 Hiroshima atomic bombs.
The disaster killed more than 50,000 in Türkiye and 8,000 in Syria. Organized aid was late to arrive, and aid was complicated by repeated aftershocks and deficiencies in transport, infrastructure, and resources. By day 2, there were large areas where rescue efforts had not reached.
As such, many people were trapped for hours – and days – under the rubble. Television news showed miracle stories, including a 10-year-old girl who was pulled out after 183 hours, awake and interactive!
A Research Brief by Dr. Danny Epstein from the Medical Corps of the Israel Defense Forces and colleagues from Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center and other institutions in Israel is being early released this week in Pediatrics, entitled “Survival Under the Rubble After the 2023 Earthquake in Turkey.” This Research Brief describes the experiences of the Israeli medical team in treating 8 such children, who had a median age of 6.75 years, and a median time under the rubble (TUR) of 112 hours (10.1542/peds.2023-062746).
In this group of survivors, severe dehydration and mild-moderate hypothermia were the most common problems, but all children recovered quickly after intervention. None of the patients had significant trauma or crush syndrome. All patients survived without complications.
The authors conclude that TUR is not necessarily a poor prognostic indicator, and that rescue efforts should not cease by day 5. Another recent study also did not find TUR to be significant in predicting outcomes in pediatric patients with crush syndrome.
This article provides a snapshot of a small slice of the disaster response in the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaras, Türkiye earthquake. In addition to documenting the medical condition of the pediatric survivors, it showcases the role of international aid and collaboration in such large-scale disasters.
