Turkey and Greece earthquake: Rescuers have pulled more than 100 survivors from the ruins of Izmir

Overnight, dozens of people gathered anxiously around each collapsed building, huddled under blankets in the freezing cold as search and rescue teams worked to locate the trapped. The rumble of heavy construction machinery filled the air, punctuated by bursts of crying and screaming.

Much of the activity has focused on the large Risa Building, which houses companies and apartments on its eight floors.

One of the survivors, 28-year-old Boss Hasilmaz, was pulled alive from the rubble there around midnight, several hours after the building collapsed.

Hassielmaz, who was in the dental clinic in the building with her parents when the earthquake struck, was able to speak to rescue teams and a Turkish minister over the phone as they tried to reach her.

In a video clip from the scene, she told them, “Unleash the dogs. I’ll make a cat sound” in an attempt to attract the rescue dogs’ attention.

The minister replied that this was a good idea, adding: “I want you to remain calm like this. Keep your spirits high and be patient.”

Hassielmaz’s father was also safely rescued. It was not immediately clear if her mother had been located.

Hours later, workers reached 16-year-old Ince and rescued him in the same building.

A teen rescue worker seen in another video promised, “I will come and hear you play the violin.” Her legs are trapped and she cannot feel them. It was stabilized by a cement block.

“It hurts a lot,” says Onsi, pleading with the rescue worker to hold her hand. Almost an entire day she was alone, in pain and awe.

The rescue worker told her, “She looks like your mother. She is fine, she is waiting for you.”

As search teams work to remove rubble from rubble and pull out the concrete beams, they are demanding calm. A frightening silence over the crowds.

This is just one of the many videos that show the amazing efforts of teams researching the aftermath of an earthquake.

In another collapsed building, a mother and her four children were pulled out alive 23 hours after the tremors. The Turkish Health Minister said one of them later died.

A young woman whose husband was trapped under the rubble in his mother’s house, where he was working while his mother was out, was hoping for good news on Saturday morning.

Rescuers told her that thermal cameras showed a man in motion, she told CNN. She prayed for her husband to be safely reunited with their two children, aged seven and ten.

A nurse, who asked not to be named, said that her colleague was in the rubble in Berkeley with her two nephews. She told CNN that she is confident her colleague’s professional skills will help the three survive.

Hundreds of aftershocks

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the strength of the quake at 7.0, while Turkish authorities said it was 6.6. The quake struck 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) northeast of the town of Nyon Carlovacion in Samos, the US Geological Survey said, at 1:51 p.m. Greek time (7:51 a.m. ET).

The US Geological Survey said the missile struck at a relatively shallow depth of 21 kilometers (13 miles), making its impact strongly felt at ground level around the epicenter.

Turkey’s disaster agency said on Saturday that there have been 615 aftershocks so far, more than 40 of which exceeded 4.0 degrees.

Greek authorities said that two teenagers, a boy and a girl, died on the Greek island of Samos after a wall collapsed on them.

The earthquake caused what authorities described as a “small tsunami”.

Television footage showed water flowing in the streets of Cesme and Seferihisar in parts of Turkey’s wider province of Izmir, as well as in Samos. No tsunami warnings were issued.

Tensions between Greece and Turkey

Edel Gungur, who works as a journalist and runs a guesthouse in the Turkish town of Syjacik in Izmir province, said Friday that the region was affected by the force of water more than the earthquake itself.

She added that her guesthouse, in a 100-year-old building, was flooded and fish were swimming in it. The city’s shops were flooded with water, and their goods were damaged.

On Friday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Twitter that he had spoken to his Turkish counterpart and offered his condolences. Tensions have recently erupted between the two countries over energy claims in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Mitsotakis wrote: “Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together.”

According to Erdogan, both Turkey and Greece were willing to send aid to the other side.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanen said on Twitter that his country had also offered to send aid to Turkey and Greece.