Two women were pulled from rubble in the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras and a mother and two children were rescued from the city of Antakya on Wednesday as rescue efforts focused on helping survivors nine days after a deadly earthquake, reports said Reuters.

Rescuers could be seen cheering and hugging as an ambulance brought a 74-year-old woman to Kahramanmaras, who was rescued 227 hours later, and a 46-year-old woman was rescued earlier in the day in the same town, not far from the epicenter. earthquake.

Later on Wednesday, a woman named Ela and her children Maysam and Ali were pulled from the rubble of an apartment building in Antakya, 228 hours after the earthquake, state news agency Anadolu reported.

The total death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen to more than 41,000, with millions in need of humanitarian aid, with many survivors left homeless by plummeting temperatures. There are few rescues now.

The focus has shifted to supporting survivors, and with much of the region’s health infrastructure damaged or disabled by the earthquakes, health authorities are facing a difficult task trying to ensure that people do not get sick.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it was particularly concerned about the welfare of people in northwest Syria, a region controlled by rebels and with limited access to aid. He called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to open more border crossings with Turkey to allow aid to flow through.

“I screamed so loud my throat hurt”

Stories also began to appear about how people survived for several days, buried under the debris.

Hussain Berber, a 62-year-old diabetic, survived 187 hours after collapsed walls were propped up by a fridge and cupboard, leaving him with a chair to sit on and a rug to keep him warm.

He had only one bottle of water and when it ran out he drank his own urine, he said from his bed in Mersin Hospital.

“I screamed and screamed and screamed. No one heard me. I screamed so loud that my throat hurt… Someone reached out and met my hand. They pulled me out of there. The hole I came out of was very small. It scared me a little.”

In Kahramanmaras, homeless families slept in tents set up on the field and running track of the city’s stadium.

In the tent, 28-year-old Hatice Kavakdali held a gray teddy bear.

“I cannot put into words my experience. It was so horrible and I still feel pain from it,” she said. “After the earthquake, I lost consciousness and I am still recovering. I didn’t remember my family or how I left the house.”