Haiti Quake Victim Miraculously Survives
- 14 years ago
The search for survivors in earthquake-hit Haiti has slowed. And by now, there’s little chance of finding any survivors. But here’s a miraculous story of a teenager who was just rescued. She survived without food and water for 15 days under the rubble of a Port-au-Prince building.
The French Civil Protection team in Port-au-Prince said on Thursday that the teenager they rescued the day before was in a stable condition. But they couldn’t explain how she managed to survive without food or water for 15 days under the rubble.
Darlene Etienne was very weak and confused when the head of the rescue team found her. He said he did not expect her to be alive.
[...]
The head of the military medical team said it was difficult to explain how Etienne managed to survive from a medical standpoint.
[Evelyne Lambert, Military Head Doctor]: (Female, French)
"I cannot explain this medically. It is very, very surprising, it’s true."
[Evelyne Lambert, Military Head Doctor]: (Female, French)
"I managed to speak to her this morning in a calmer atmosphere, she
is surrounded by other Haitian women in our hospitalization zone…and she was telling me this morning that she had not drunk anything, not eaten anything and that her accident happened at the time of the first quake on Tuesday the 12th and that she had not eaten or drunk since then."
Furthermore, the conditions were very dangerous when Etienne was being rescued.
[Claude Fulla, Head of the French Civil Protection Team]: (Male, French)
"You need to know that when I was with her underneath I was expecting her to get a heart attack from one minute to the next as she was so fragile. And the second reason for getting her out quickly and not lingering on what was around was that at any moment everything could start falling on us. Underneath there were 3 to 4 people from the Civil Security service so our first priority was to get her out as quickly as possible."
Etienne continues to recover steadily at the hospital.
The French Civil Protection team in Port-au-Prince said on Thursday that the teenager they rescued the day before was in a stable condition. But they couldn’t explain how she managed to survive without food or water for 15 days under the rubble.
Darlene Etienne was very weak and confused when the head of the rescue team found her. He said he did not expect her to be alive.
[...]
The head of the military medical team said it was difficult to explain how Etienne managed to survive from a medical standpoint.
[Evelyne Lambert, Military Head Doctor]: (Female, French)
"I cannot explain this medically. It is very, very surprising, it’s true."
[Evelyne Lambert, Military Head Doctor]: (Female, French)
"I managed to speak to her this morning in a calmer atmosphere, she
is surrounded by other Haitian women in our hospitalization zone…and she was telling me this morning that she had not drunk anything, not eaten anything and that her accident happened at the time of the first quake on Tuesday the 12th and that she had not eaten or drunk since then."
Furthermore, the conditions were very dangerous when Etienne was being rescued.
[Claude Fulla, Head of the French Civil Protection Team]: (Male, French)
"You need to know that when I was with her underneath I was expecting her to get a heart attack from one minute to the next as she was so fragile. And the second reason for getting her out quickly and not lingering on what was around was that at any moment everything could start falling on us. Underneath there were 3 to 4 people from the Civil Security service so our first priority was to get her out as quickly as possible."
Etienne continues to recover steadily at the hospital.