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Born under the rubble amid the terrible earthquakes that killed her parents and siblings, Syria’s ‘miracle baby’ has now been taken in by her relatives.
Afraa al-Suwadi began her life trapped under several layers of concrete after devastating earthquakes earlier this month left her the only survivor of her immediate family.
More than 10 hours after the quake, rescuers were digging through the rubble of a destroyed five-story apartment building where they found a baby still connected by her umbilical cord to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, who was dead along with her husband. and four other children.
Since footage of her rescue in the northern Syrian town of Jindayris went viral on social media, Suwadi’s story has captivated a grieving nation and made international headlines as the “miracle baby” of Syria.
She is one of untold orphans left behind by the earthquakes, which killed more than 47,000 people in northern Syria and southeastern Turkey.
Afraa al-Suwadi began her life trapped under several layers of concrete after the devastating earthquakes in Syria and Turkey earlier this month.
Rescuers found Afraa al-Suwadi still connected by her umbilical cord to her mother.
“She is my soul, my life and my whole world,” her uncle Khalil al-Suwadi said from his tent in the city, cradling the newborn.
The baby, wrapped in a blanket and wearing a red cap with a small bow, was named after her mother, Afraa, one of more than 47,000 people who died in war-torn Syria and neighboring Turkey in the earthquake in magnitude 7.8.
Khalil al-Suwadi took the baby in about a week and a half after she was admitted to hospital in rebel-held Jindayris near the Turkish border.
Medical staff conducted a DNA test to make sure they were indeed related.
“The day they told us we could have her, I was overjoyed, it was indescribable,” said the uncle, who had helped rescue her.
Khalil al-Suwadi is married to a sister of the baby’s late father, who was also his cousin.
“This girl is a living memory of her father, mother and brothers” who passed away, she said.
One day, when baby Afraa is older, she said that she would tell her the history of the family.
The baby, wrapped in a blanket and wearing a red cap with a bow, was named after her mother, Afraa.
“She is my soul, my life and my whole world,” her uncle Khalil al-Suwadi said from his tent in the city, cradling the newborn.
Khalil al-Suwadi took the baby in about a week and a half after she was admitted to the hospital.
The baby was born under the rubble after the earthquakes that hit Syria and Turkey
She is one of untold orphans left behind by the earthquakes, which killed more than 47,000 people in northern Syria and southeastern Turkey.
Rescuers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem, near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, February 8, 2023.
As she laid her down on one of the mattresses spread over the flimsy tent the family had moved into after the earthquake, her daughters surrounded the baby, hugging and kissing her.
The uncle said that his wife gave birth a few days ago but he has spent much of his time taking care of Afraa.
Now she is like one of my daughters.
The UN children’s agency UNICEF said it has been monitoring children whose parents are missing or killed, providing food, clothing and medicine and coordinating with hospitals to locate extended family members who could care for them.
In Turkey, the Ministry of Family and Social Services called on potential foster families to apply. He said children whose families or relatives could not be found were currently being cared for in state institutions. Staff were assessing their needs and placing them with registered adoptive families, the ministry said.