PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – French rescuers pulled a teenage girl — very dehydrated, with a broken left leg and moments from death — from the rubble of a home near the destroyed St. Gerard University on Wednesday, a stunning recovery 15 days after an earthquake devastated the city.
Darlene Etienne was rushed to a French military field hospital and then to the French military hospital ship Sirroco, groaning through an oxygen mask with her eyes open in a lost stare.
Darlene Etienne, 17, rests in a French military field hospital after being rescued from a building in Port-au-Prince, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. French rescuers pulled the teenage girl out of the rubble 15 days after an earthquake hit the Caribbean capital. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
“She’s alive!” said paramedic Paul Francois-Valette, who accompanied her into the hospital.
Authorities say it is rare for anyone to survive more than 72 hours without water, little alone more than two weeks. But Etienne may have had some access to water from a bathroom of the collapsed home, and rescuers said she mumbled something about having a little Coca-Cola with her in the rubble.
Her family said Etienne, 17, had just started studying when the disaster struck, trapping dozens of students and staff in the rubble of school buildings, hostels and nearby homes.
“We thought she was dead,” her cousin, Jocelyn A. St. Jules, said in a telephone call with The Associated Press.
Then — half a month after the earthquake — neighbors on Wednesday heard a voice weakly calling from the rubble of a private home down the road from the collapsed university. They called authorities, who brought in the French civil response team.
Rescuer Claude Fuilla then walked along the dangerously crumbled roof, heard her voice and saw a little bit of dust-covered black hair in the rubble. Clearing away some debris, he managed to reach the young woman and see she was alive — barely.
“She couldn’t really talk to us or say how long she’d been there but I think she’d been there since the earthquake. I don’t think she could have survived even a few more hours,” Fuilla said.
Digging out a hole big enough to give her oxygen and water, they found she had a very weak pulse. Within 45 minutes they managed to remove her, covered in dust. Fuilla said she was rescued from what appeared to be the porch area of the house, but a neighbor said he believed it was the shower room, where she might have had access to water.
“It’s exceptional. She spoke to us in a very little voice, she was extremely weak,” Fuilla said. “Before we stabilized her she was extremely dehydrated and weak she had a very low blood pressure.”
Another rescuer, French Lt. Col. Christophe Renou, said he had no idea how she had managed to cling to life for so long: “Definitely she’s been here for 15 days. She wasn’t hurt but she was very, very weak.”
Renou said his team would probably return Thursday with radar equipment to look for any other possible survivors.
French Ambassador Didier le Bret praised the persistence of the French rescue team, which has kept looking for survivors for days after the Haitian government officially called off the search.
“They are so stubborn because they should not have been working anymore because, officially, the rescue phase is over. But they felt that some lives still are to be saved, so we did not say that they should leave the country,” he told Associated Press Television News.
“To be honest we thought that the last miracle we had a couple of days ago … would be the last miracle because the chances are so very, very slight. But it seems that beyond the miracle, there was another miracle.”
The last previous confirmed rescue of someone trapped by the initial quake occurred Saturday, 11 days later, when French rescuers extricated a man from the ruins of a hotel grocery store. A man pulled Tuesday from the rubble of a downtown store later and treated by the U.S. military for severe dehydration and a broken leg said he had been trapped during an aftershock.
At least 135 people have been unearthed by rescue teams since the Jan. 12 quake, and many more by relatives and neighbors. But most of these rescues were in the immediate aftermath and authorities say it is rare for anyone to survive more than 72 hours without water
As the devastation continues in Haiti, there may be some help on the way from an unlikely source. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the recent earthquake may have unlocked natural gas and oil reserves, resources that could aid economic recovery in the western hemisphere’s poorest nation.
The earthquake occurred along a fault line that may have cracked nearby rock formations, allowing gas or oil to seep to the surface. Stephen Pierce, a geologist who has long worked in the region, told Bloomberg as much in a phone interview on Monday
A geologist, callous as it may seem, tracing that fault zone from Port-au-Prince to the border looking for gas and oil seeps, may find a structure that hasn’t been drilled. A discovery could significantly improve the country’s economy and stimulate further exploration
The exploration of oil and gas in Haiti is far less developed than its immediate neighbor, the Dominican Republic, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola. There are an estimated 3 million barrels of oil offshore, as well as a possible 1 trillion cubic feet of gas trapped near the earthquake fault.
Currently Haiti, and more specifically, Port-au-Prince, is in a state of emergency, with over 150,000 dead and more than 600,000 without shelter. The main priority for the small island nation is relief and recovery for the survivors. Looking beyond the initial devastation, however, Haiti will need “massive support” for a “colossal” reconstruction, said Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
The Greater Antilles, which includes Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, collectively boast even bigger possibilities. With likely offshore reserves nearing 142 million barrels of oil and 159 billion cubic feet of gas, this new discovery could be just the thing Haiti needs to jumpstart its economy and fund its long process of rebuilding
An avid basketball fan, with an unorthodox Ginobili-like jump shot, Obama said no team exemplified excellence on the court more than the Lakers did last year in winning their 15th league championship.
The team’s players, owners and coaches presented the president with a gold Lakers jersey emblazoned with “1,” a nod to, um, guard Jordan Farmar(notes), and an autographed basketball. (On second thought, perhaps the Lakers didn’t give him “44,” a nod to Obama’s standing as the 44th president, out of respect for Jerry West.)
Obama commended the players not only for their athletic achievements, but also their work off the court, according to Associated Press. The players held a fitness clinic for Washington-area school children Monday, and several players are donating money to relief efforts in Haiti.
The White House stop, which lasted less than an hour, fell on the sixth day of the Lakers’ eight-game, 14-day trip. Maybe the tour, visit and Khloe Kardashian-Odom photo-op will help break ‘em out of their sudden road funk.
President Barack Obama, left, gestures towards Magic Johnson, top right, as Kobe Bryant(notes), top left, and other members of the 2009 NBA basketball champions Los Angeles Lakers look on, Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Lakers Derek Fisher(notes), second from left, and Jordan Farmar(notes), third from left, and others, look on.
by jeskeets
