A young woman in Colombia has survived a devastating earthquake that claimed the lives of her two triplet sisters, both parents and an uncle after their apartment building collapsed.
The survivor, identified as Ana María Saavedra, was the first-born of the triplets and the only one to survive the collapse of the family’s four-storey apartment building in Cali, Colombia.
Follow the Elizabethblog channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbDQN5lI1rcbSgriLG2M
Her sisters, Sofía and Isabella, both 23, died alongside their father, Jairo Saavedra, their mother, Victoria Caicedo, and their uncle, Diego Caicedo, after the building came down following Monday’s 7.4-magnitude earthquake.
According to Ana María’s uncle, Carlos Saavedra, she was found shortly after the building collapsed, trapped beneath a door that had fallen over her.
Speaking to Semana News, Carlos explained that the door ultimately protected her from the full force of the debris.
“The door protected her from the debris” he said
He said Ana María’s younger triplet sister, Sofía, was discovered beneath the rubble about four hours after Ana María was rescued.
Rescue workers, joined by volunteers, continued searching through the wreckage in the hope of finding Isabella alive.
Sadly, Isabella’s body was eventually recovered on Thursday evening.
In an interview with Blu Radio, Carlos said Ana María was able to tell the family what she remembered from the moments before the earthquake struck.
According to her account, her father was taking a shower while her mother was in their room waiting for her turn. Their uncle, Diego, was reportedly waiting for Jairo to finish a work-related task for a US-based company they worked for.
Carlos explained how Ana María managed to survive as the building collapsed.
“So, what Ana María says is that the two triplets who died were ahead of her, already going down the stairs, and when the earthquake hit, Ana María was coming out, and the apartment door, made of very fine cedar, fell on top of her,”
“It shielded her from the rubble, and she was crushed, but with her head sticking out. Then she started screaming, and the neighbors came out within five minutes. Because the building tilted forward, she fell onto the sidewalk, into the street. Then the neighbors managed to hear her and removed her.”
After being rescued, Ana María was rushed to a nearby clinic for emergency medical treatment.
She underwent surgery on Wednesday for a pelvic fracture sustained during the collapse.
On Thursday, she was informed that her two sisters, parents and uncle had all died in the collapse.