TURKEY — Samaritan’s Purse is caring for earthquake survivors in Turkey. Among them is a 14-year-old boy pulled from the rubble after eight days.

Hasan:

We were waiting for eight days by the rubble. There were six people in there my nephew, his mum and dad, his two sisters and his brother. They lived on the bottom floor so there were four floors on top of them after the earthquake.

They removed three floors, and they opened up a hole. Relief workers helped. They were able to open a little hold there. Then there was someone speaking and I could hear some noise. But I thought it was another person. But I screamed through that hole.

‘Nephew is that you?’ I heard his voice and I knew it was him.

This is really great. I thought the ambulance was going to leave us on the side of the road. I didn’t know where they were taking us. Here everything is clean, and it’s so good. But when he came here, he saw all these doctors from different nationalities helping him. Thank you.

Kalisse Barwich, RN – Samaritan’s Purse:

The miracle is amazing. It’s such an honor and a privilege to care for him to give them hope again and help with his recovery. He came in very weak as you can imagine and very stiff unable to move a lot. Fortunately he had no trauma so no breaks anywhere.

We’re giving him IV fluids. We started helping him drink again. He had some soup this morning, making sure he is awake and alert getting his energy back.

Kate Allen, MD – Samaritan’s Purse:

Samaritan’s Purse is here in South Eastern Turkey with an emergency field hospital responding to the earthquake that has devastated. Since we opened we’ve seen more than 175 patients. We’ve seen a number of people who’ve been injured either during the earthquake or since with bone fractures or wounds and we’re also seeing a good number of medical cases caused by both the dust in the air but also from them not having access to the usual medicine that were buried in the rubble and not having access to their usual doctors.

Because the hospital system in Turkey has been so overwhelmed by the sheer number of people that are needing help. If patients come here they’re getting care that they cannot get locally or even further afield. If we were not here there is no access to a lot of medical care in this area.

These places that have darkness and trauma then if we don’t go who will? It’s important that we show the love of Christ and show the light of Christ through everything we do.
Hasan

I will care for him. He has six uncles and I asked him: ‘Who do you want to stay with?’ And he said: ‘You.’ And I told him: ‘You will be with me. You are in my heart.’

Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Samaritan’s Purse International Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) program is committed to meeting the critical needs of victims of war, poverty, famine, disease, and natural disaster. We stand ready to respond at a moment’s notice whenever and wherever disaster strikes. The DART specializes in providing water, food, shelter, and medical care while sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

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