The survival of four people who were trapped for 11 days in the rubble of a building demolished by storms in the northern Philippines is amazing but not unprecedented, doctors said on Thursday.
An emergency specialist with an international agency, who did not want to be named, said: ”To survive for 11 days in those conditions is amazing but not impossible.”
He said there have been many incidents of people being rescued after long being given up for dead while trapped in collapsed buildings following earthquakes.
In the 1990 earthquake that struck the northern resort city of Baguio, a man was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed hotel after 13 days, suffering only a broken ankle and dehydration.
He survived by drinking his own urine.
”When buildings collapse all you see are piles of rubble, often with large slabs of concrete piled on top of one another,” the specialist said.
”It is natural for most people to assume no one could survive such conditions. But they do. Collapsed buildings are honeycombed with places for people to go and await rescue.”
He said there are well-documented cases of people being rescued from collapsed buildings in earthquakes days after the event.
However, the specialist said that ”to be trapped without food or water the chances of survival are very slim. A week at the most.”
Another doctor based in Manila gave the same time frame for victims with no access to food or water.
”Children even less,” said the doctor, who did not wish to be named. ”You have no chance of survival without fluids. With water you can survive for a month or so.”
He said those that survived in Real appear to be in reasonable condition, judging from television footage.
”I expect they will be weak for some time as they build up strength but they are very lucky. I would still like to know whether they had any food.
”The three-year-old surprises me. With only water, children don’t have the [same] resistance as adults.
”I suspect they would have had some food, even it were earthworms or cockroaches.” — Sapa-AFP