In the greatest catastrophes there are these stories that give hope in the middle of hell. Using the Twitter hashtag #TurkeyQuake, Greek firefighters, along with their Turkish counterparts, were seen pulling a six-year-old girl from under the rubble in Hatay province, 37 hours after the two 7.8-magnitude tremors. One photo shows a serious and exhausted-looking young firefighter with a Greek flag on his uniform sleeve, carrying the girl on a stretcher with a Turkish rescuer in camouflage. Just a photo like this is a good sign in times of political tension between the two neighboring countries.
Even the father pulled a child out of rubble
The public then also learned the name of the solidarity rescuer: Konstantinos Nikas. And some Greeks remembered his father, who was also a fireman: Panagiotis Nikas. 28 years ago, after a devastating earthquake in Aigio, Greece, on the Gulf of Corinth, this Nikas had pulled a little boy out of the rubble. The firefighter talked to the buried child and kept her awake for 44 hours before finally being able to rescue her.
That’s the good story. The sad thing: the father of the girl who was able to save Nikas’ son Konstantinos in Hatay, Turkey, was rescued alive, but the mother and seven-year-old sister were only dead.