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How social media has become an important tool in helping disaster victims in Turkey, Syria and beyond

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Firefighters and rescue teams search for people in a destroyed building, in Adana, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. With the hope of finding survivors fading, stretched rescue teams in Turkey and Syria searched Wednesday for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a catastrophic earthquake. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In the aftermath of the deadly earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6, many people trapped under the rubble turned to social media pleading to be rescued. 

“Whoever sees this WhatsApp status please come and help,” said Boran Kubat, 20, in a video he recorded with his cellphone. He described the apartment building he and his family members were under, and rescuers were able to find and get them out from under the ruins, The Guardian reported.

In another video, a boy under a building in Syria, said he was trapped with several other families and neighbors.“I don’t know if I’ll die or stay alive,” he says quietly, his voice shaking, his face and hair white from the dust. “I don’t know how to describe the feeling of someone who has been through this, under the rubble.”

Continue reading at Northeastern Global News.

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