From: TEX5HAD@CMS1.LEEDS.AC.UK (Haluk DEMIRBAG)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: NURCAN HEMSIRE'S STORY by Sami Cohen, from TV Quick (London)
Date: 29 Sep 1992 21:55:59 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

I WAS BURIED UNDER HERE FOR EIGHT DAYS

Nurcan glanced  at her watch.  Should she  stay and have  a quick
dinner with her friends or go and catch the bus now?

She was going to visit her parents, but she hadn't eaten all day.
It  was Ramadan,  the month  when  Muslims fast  from sunrise  to
sunset. The thought of the  journey without food decided her. She
would eat before she left.

Nurcan  worked as  a nurse  at  the Social  Security Hospital  in
Erzincan, Turkey.  After the meal,  she went  to her room  on the
second floor to pick up a few things.

Suddenly, the  building began  to shake with  a ferocity  she had
never  experienced  before.  Nurcan  grabbed a  chair  to  steady
herself, but it crashed to the floor. In desperation, she reached
for a swinging cupboard's impact  made her feel dizzy. Dimly, she
felt  bolts  of  pain  surge   through  her  limbs  as  the  wall
disintegrated on top of her.

When she  finally looked up, it  was dark. She tried  to move her
arms,  but couldn't  -  she  was trapped  by  the rubble.  Nurcan
shivered from the cold, but had nothing to cover herself with.

'Please someone find me soon',  she murmured. Straining her ears,
she thought  she could hear  voices. 'Please help,  I'm injured,'
she shouted.  But, with a  sinking heart, she realised  they were
just cries for help from other victims.

Minutes  passed  into  hours  and  there was  still  no  sign  of
rescuers.  Nurcan  shivered  in  her  narrow  prison.  The  hours
stretched into days.

Sometimes, she could  hear bulldozers and vehicles  and her hopes
were raised. 'Help, I'm trapped,' she yelled. But no one heard.

Hunger gnawed  at her.  Her mouth, clogged  with dirt  and grime,
felt dry. She  longed for water. By now, she'd  lost all sense of
time. 'But, won't lose faith in God,' nurcan thought, 'nor that a
miracle might happen.'

To distract  herself, she thought about  the work she did  in the
hospital, helping sick people to recover. Memories of her family
- her parents, brother Ercan and sister Rabsan - also cheered her
up.

Her thoughts  were interrupted by  the familiar rumblings  of the
bulldozers. They  seemed nearer  than usual.  Nurcan made  up her
mind to make one last effort.  By now, she was very weak. 'Please
help!' she yelled.  'I've been trapped here for  ages. Please get
me out.'

Nurcan prayed.  She was worried  the rescuers might nor  hear her
and keep  digging, causing the  wreckage to crash her.  She could
hear the  scraping of their tools  - they were close.  A chink of
light appeared above her. 'You are saved,' said a voice.

It took her rescuers almost four  more hours to reach her. And as
her  prison  of  eight  days  was  gradually  dismantled,  Nurcan
realised how lucky she was to have escaped death.

When they finally pulled her  out, pain darted through her ankle,
which had been badly crashed. She  was taken to a hospital in the
nearby city of  Erzurum. She was surprisingly well,  apart from a
bad  kidney complaint  - the  result of  going without  water for
eight  days. Going  without  food  for so  long  had quashed  her
appetite, but she did have a craving for yoghurt, and ate lots of
it.

As  soon  as they  heard  of  their doughter's  rescue,  Nurcan's
parents  rushed  to  the  hospital.  Choked  with  emotion,  they
couldn't speak at first. Then they cried tears of relief and joy.

While Nurcan's kidney  complaint cleared up, the  gangrene in her
foot spread. 'I'm afraid we have to amputate,' said her doctor.

Nurcan  was transferred  to  Istanbul, where  her  left foot  was
removed.  She is  now on  crutches, unable  to afford  the 11,000
pounds for an artificial foot,  although the State will reimburse
her after she's bought it.

However,  after  a  leading Turkish  newspaper  printed  Nurcan's
story, a  company has announced  it will pay for  her prosthesis.
Another has  donated a  small apartment  in Istanbul,  but Nurcan
cannot afford to pay for her  title deeds that would make her the
flat's owner. Now she's living at her parents' home in Tokat.

'Of course, I was upset over  losing my foot,' she says. 'I can't
walk and  I can't work. But  I consider myself lucky.  After all,
I'm alive, surrounded by my beloved family and friends.

'I  have courage  and belief  everything will  be all  right. I'm
looking forward to returning to  my job and helping others regain
their health.

'At the  moment, I'm writing  a book  on my experiences  of being
trapped, which I hope to have published.

'You have a  lot to say when you return  to life from near-death.
In those eight days, I was on the dividing line between the two.'

Sami Cohen, TV Quick.
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