- People on social media are clamoring to adopt a Syrian baby who was born under earthquake rubble.
- The baby, named Aya or "a sign from God," is being cared for by hospital staff in the city of Afrin.
People on Twitter are clamoring to adopt a Syrian baby orphaned in the Turkey-Syria earthquake, who made headlines this week after she was born in the rubble of her collapsed home.
Aya, Arabic for "a sign from God," is the only survivor of her immediate family. She was rescued from the debris of her home on Monday.
Her parents and four siblings died in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey at 4:17 a.m., local time, on Monday. The family's home in Jenderis, a town close to Aleppo, was destroyed in the quake, per the Associated Press.
A viral Twitter video shows Aya being pulled from under the rubble. In the clip, a man is seen sprinting out of the wreckage, carrying the dust-covered baby, her umbilical cord still hanging from her belly.
—Pankaj Mishra (@nn_pankaj) February 8, 2023
There has been an outpouring of support for Aya on social media.
"I want to adopt this child. I'd give her a loving home. She'll have two sets of grand parents and cousins of all ages. My family would be complete," tweeted one Twitter user.
"I am too far away but I would adopt this baby and ensure a happy and peaceful life," wrote another Twitter user commenting on a video of Aya.
Dozens of people are contacting Aya's doctor, offering to adopt her
When Aya was found, she was still attached to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, by her umbilical cord, per the AP. She is currently in a hospital in the nearby city of Afrin and is being cared for by hospital manager Khalid Attiah and his wife, per the BBC.
She is being breastfed by Attiah's wife, who has a four-month-old baby of her own, per the BBC. Attiah told the media outlet that he has received dozens of calls from around the world from people offering to adopt Aya. He said he does not plan to put her up for adoption.
"Until her distant family return, I'm treating her like one of my own," he told the BBC.
When the baby arrived at the hospital, she was in a "bad state," Hani Maarouf, one of the pediatricians caring for her, told the AP. Her body temperature had fallen to 95 degrees and she had a big bruise on her back, he told the media outlet.
"Had the girl been left for an hour more, she would have died," Maarouf said to the AP. He added that the baby is in a stable condition now.
Aya's great-uncle, Salah al-Badran, told the AP he will take her in once she is discharged from the hospital.
The death toll in the quake, which hit northern Syria and southeastern Turkey, has exceeded 20,000, the AP reported.
The freezing conditions and aftershocks have made search and rescue efforts difficult.
"Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization's director-general, said on Tuesday.