'Too many children have lost their parents'

Dwarfed by his big infirmary bed, five-year-old Aras is resting connected his backmost playing with a exemplary car.

He is 1 of Turkey's miracles.

Rescue teams freed him from the rubble of his location successful the present devastated metropolis of Kahramanmaras, 105 hours aft the earthquake.

When helium was brought into the intensive attraction unit, hypothermia had acceptable successful and his assemblage somesthesia had dropped to 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit).

Aras whitethorn person survived, but his seven-year-old sister Hiranur did not. Neither did his nine-year-old member Alp. Nor his father.

Just 1 of truthful galore families irrevocably breached by this disaster.

Sitting astatine Aras's bedside and mildly ruffling his grandson's acheronian hairsbreadth Is Mehmet.

"He's an honorable boy. He has a beardown personality. He's sincere. He's not a spoilt boy."

Although present 72, Mehmet tells america helium volition for the remainder of his days look aft Aras arsenic if helium were his ain son.

"The rescuers did truthful good to prevention him," helium says, "and by God's grace, they gave him backmost to america alive."

Aras winces a small arsenic the doc changes the bandage connected his swollen near foot. He's making a bully recovery.

Aras's mum besides survived - but helium hasn't seen her since their satellite imploded. She is being treated astatine different infirmary successful the metropolis but is expected to recover.

It was successful an intensive attraction portion acceptable up by Israeli doctors wherever Aras's ain beingness was saved.

But arsenic we walked done the ward connected Monday, it was not conscionable a kid with a singular communicative but besides a 65-year-old man.

Samir from Syria was plucked from the rubble aft enduring six freezing nights.

Doctors past saved him, but some his legs had to beryllium amputated.

For the medics astatine the bosom of this catastrophe it's been an exhausting and traumatic week.

Paediatrician Dr Mehmet Cihan travelled from Istanbul arsenic rapidly arsenic helium could to assistance colleagues successful this breached city.

"It's precise bad. Too galore children person mislaid their parents. I don't know. It's precise hard for me... excessively hard for me."

The planetary aesculapian effort reaches acold beyond Kahramanmaras.

In the municipality of Turkoglu, greenish British tents pitched by NHS doctors basal alongside Turkish tents with reddish tarpaulin.

UK doctors are mounting up a tract infirmary successful the grounds of the town's infirmary which was damaged successful the quake.

The request for exigency attraction successful the hours aft the earthquake whitethorn person passed - but 80,000 radical surviving present are lacking galore aesculapian services.

Dr Bryony Pointon is simply a GP from Chichester, who has travel to Turkey arsenic portion of UK-Med - a front-line aesculapian assistance foundation funded by the British government.

"We are moving with the Turkish doctors and nurses that are present - mounting up their ain tents and seeing patients but they are rather overwhelmed," she explains.

"After each the trauma you person the radical who person their accustomed chronic illnesses - they are inactive unwell, they don't person the facilities to cope. So, we volition spot those patients, arsenic galore arsenic we can."

Doctors and nurses from astir the satellite are present successful Turkey to assistance with the carnal injuries.

But the intelligence trauma is besides profound - some the idiosyncratic and the national.

Additional reporting by by Naomi Scherbel-Ball and Dogu Eroglu