Vice’s AccordingThe student, Boran Kubat, was visiting relatives in Malatya when the second earthquake struck on Monday afternoon last week. Malatya in eastern Turkey was badly hit by the earthquake and Kubat was trapped under the rubble of an apartment block along with his relatives.
Reports suggest that on Monday last week, the family re-entered the block after surviving the first earthquake in the early hours of the morning, but the building collapsed in the afternoon after a second earthquake of magnitude 7.5. Although buried under the debris, Kubat had his smartphone with him, in which, using the instant messaging app WhatsApp, Kubat shared a video in which he gave his complete address and asked people for help.
In the video, he reportedly said in Turkish, “Whoever is looking at this WhatsApp status, please come and help. Everyone please come and save us.”
Thanks to the information she provided, rescue workers were able to locate the family, and Kubat and her mother and uncle were pulled from the rubble.
The report further states that after emerging from the wreckage, Kubat told a Reuters reporter standing nearby, (translated) “I had my telephone, so I thought if I shared a video on social media, my Friends can see it and they can reach out to us.”