New Delhi: A baby girl, whose mother died after giving birth to her under the rubble of their home in Syria after Monday’s earthquake, has been given a name and a home.
The baby was rescued with her umbilical cord still attached to her dead mother in the Syrian town of Jenderis. Her father and siblings also died in the devastating earthquake.
She has been named Aya, which means ‘miracle’ in Arabic.
Her father’s uncle says he will take her home after she is discharged from hospital because all her family members have died. Salah al-Badran’s own house was destroyed in the earthquake and he is currently living in a tent with his family.
The video of little Aya’s rescue went viral on social media. The footage shows a man sprinting from the rubble of a collapsed four-storey building clutching a tiny baby covered in dust.
A second man runs towards the first carrying a blanket for the newborn in the sub-zero temperatures while a third screams for a car to take her to hospital.
Thousands of people had offered to adopt the baby girl.
The baby was admitted to a hospital for treatment in the nearby town of Afrin. She had bumps, bruises, she was cold and barely breathing. A doctor’s wife has been breastfeeding her along with her child.
Aya is one of the several children left orphaned by the 7.8-magnitude quake on Monday. The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said it has been monitoring children whose parents are missing or killed, and is coordinating with hospitals to track down extended family members who might be able to care for them.
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