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CNN Live Sunday
Child Survives Quake in Algeria
Aired May 25, 2003 - 18:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Word tonight that a child may have survived that quake in Algeria. On the telephone with us now is Rym Brahimi who's been covering the story since the beginning virtually.
And, Rym, what's the latest there?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, we were just at the site where volunteers and rescuers have been frantically digging to see if there's any chance to find this little 11-year-old Sabrina alive.
Now she was buried in -- at the bottom of a six-story building in the town of Boudouaou, which is about a half-hour drive east of the Algerian capital here. She was playing outside her own building, which didn't collapse, but then, when the earth started trembling, well, she ran for shelter into that other building next door that totally collapsed.
Now rescuers say -- well, volunteers, rather, say that they have heard her as far as yesterday morning. I spoke to someone who said he heard her and asked her a few questions to see if she was still alive and she could respond, and she responded by knocking on the wall to give sign of life, but, since this morning, there hasn't been any such contact with her.
I also spoke to her father and her twin brother. They say, of course, that they hope she's still alive somewhere. Her brother says he feels in his heart she is still alive, but volunteers I spoke to were very skeptical. It's been four days.
Some of them still have hope that she's somewhere still breathing, but a lot of people are just now digging to find out what happened -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Rym, that would, indeed, be amazing if she were still alive.
Well, as they tried to listen for any signs of life from her and others, what, if anything, are they able to use to help dig through the rubble?
BRAHIMI: Well, it was quite striking, Fredricka. When we arrived at that site, it was 10:00 at night, it was dark, but they had put a few lights. But they were so ill-equipped. We understand an Italian team was there doing the day helping them, and the Italian team did have sophisticated equipment radars as well as sniffer dogs, but the Italian team seems to have given up earlier and just left.
Now the residents I saw were having -- literally holding electrical light bulbs to try and see through the night, and they were using their bare hands and a few shovels to try and dig through and make openings, an opening wide enough for a human being, a person to be able to actually get into that space underneath the concrete and try and see if there's any sign of life there.
Of course -- and then, of course, it started to rain, which didn't help the rescue efforts at all, but the people were not discouraged. They just kept going on thinking that, if there was one chance, well, they would still like to try and find out if she's alive.
A very poignant story there, one of many probably that residents in Algeria have gone through in the past four days -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Rym, outside of this 11-year-old, is the approach of these emergency workers that they really are on a recovery mission and no longer a rescue mission?
BRAHIMI: Fredricka, it hasn't been said officially, but, most of the time, we are now seeing more recovery missions than rescue operations. There's still a lot of people who have some form of hope, but it's clear now by some sites where we see the use of bulldozers more and more, rather than the use of sniffer dogs, for instance, that now it's really just trying to find bodies and locate missing people just to find out where they are, rather than -- more than anything else.
That has led to a lot of frustration among residents, a lot of people who say that the rescue efforts organized by the government didn't come soon enough. The government has acknowledged there were a few problems but says it's doing its best. The army has been helping. The local security services in various towns.
But, still, that doesn't seem to be enough because the magnitude of the earthquake is such that there are literally thousands of people that have gone missing, that have died, and tens of thousands that are now left without homes -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Rym Brahimi from Algiers.
Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 25, 2003 - 18:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Word tonight that a child may have survived that quake in Algeria. On the telephone with us now is Rym Brahimi who's been covering the story since the beginning virtually.
And, Rym, what's the latest there?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, we were just at the site where volunteers and rescuers have been frantically digging to see if there's any chance to find this little 11-year-old Sabrina alive.
Now she was buried in -- at the bottom of a six-story building in the town of Boudouaou, which is about a half-hour drive east of the Algerian capital here. She was playing outside her own building, which didn't collapse, but then, when the earth started trembling, well, she ran for shelter into that other building next door that totally collapsed.
Now rescuers say -- well, volunteers, rather, say that they have heard her as far as yesterday morning. I spoke to someone who said he heard her and asked her a few questions to see if she was still alive and she could respond, and she responded by knocking on the wall to give sign of life, but, since this morning, there hasn't been any such contact with her.
I also spoke to her father and her twin brother. They say, of course, that they hope she's still alive somewhere. Her brother says he feels in his heart she is still alive, but volunteers I spoke to were very skeptical. It's been four days.
Some of them still have hope that she's somewhere still breathing, but a lot of people are just now digging to find out what happened -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Rym, that would, indeed, be amazing if she were still alive.
Well, as they tried to listen for any signs of life from her and others, what, if anything, are they able to use to help dig through the rubble?
BRAHIMI: Well, it was quite striking, Fredricka. When we arrived at that site, it was 10:00 at night, it was dark, but they had put a few lights. But they were so ill-equipped. We understand an Italian team was there doing the day helping them, and the Italian team did have sophisticated equipment radars as well as sniffer dogs, but the Italian team seems to have given up earlier and just left.
Now the residents I saw were having -- literally holding electrical light bulbs to try and see through the night, and they were using their bare hands and a few shovels to try and dig through and make openings, an opening wide enough for a human being, a person to be able to actually get into that space underneath the concrete and try and see if there's any sign of life there.
Of course -- and then, of course, it started to rain, which didn't help the rescue efforts at all, but the people were not discouraged. They just kept going on thinking that, if there was one chance, well, they would still like to try and find out if she's alive.
A very poignant story there, one of many probably that residents in Algeria have gone through in the past four days -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Rym, outside of this 11-year-old, is the approach of these emergency workers that they really are on a recovery mission and no longer a rescue mission?
BRAHIMI: Fredricka, it hasn't been said officially, but, most of the time, we are now seeing more recovery missions than rescue operations. There's still a lot of people who have some form of hope, but it's clear now by some sites where we see the use of bulldozers more and more, rather than the use of sniffer dogs, for instance, that now it's really just trying to find bodies and locate missing people just to find out where they are, rather than -- more than anything else.
That has led to a lot of frustration among residents, a lot of people who say that the rescue efforts organized by the government didn't come soon enough. The government has acknowledged there were a few problems but says it's doing its best. The army has been helping. The local security services in various towns.
But, still, that doesn't seem to be enough because the magnitude of the earthquake is such that there are literally thousands of people that have gone missing, that have died, and tens of thousands that are now left without homes -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Rym Brahimi from Algiers.
Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
