Arabic press review: Video shows child born under rubble in Syria

Video shows child born under rubble in Syria

After two devastating earthquakes in Syria and Turkey on Monday, which have so far killed at least 5,000 people, social media websites circulated a video showing the moment a baby was born under the rubble of a collapsed house in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

The mother immediately died after childbirth, according to Arabi 21, but the newborn baby miraculously survived.

The video showed people gathered where the woman was stuck, and a man quickly carrying the newborn baby away from the scene.

Two violent earthquakes struck northern Syria and southern Turkey on Monday morning. Rescue operations are still underway to search for survivors.

Seven-person family from Gaza dies in Antakya

The Palestinian ambassador to Turkey, Faed Mustafa, said that an entire seven-person Palestinian family died in the Turkish city of Antakya on Monday.

The family came from the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa).

The Palestinian ambassador said the earthquake killed Abdul Karim Abu Jalhoum and his family.

Mustafa also confirmed preliminary information about the death of a number of other Palestinians in Antakya, though communications with the city remain patchy, which means the number of casualties is likely to rise.

The Palestinian ambassador to Syria, Samir Rifai, announced earlier that the number of Palestinian refugees in Syria killed by the earthquake had risen to 22, after bodies were recovered from the Al-Raml camp, the Jableh governorate, and the city of Aleppo.

Lebanon awakens to tremors

People in Lebanon awoke in a panic at dawn on Monday as tremors hit from the double earthquake, according to Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

The 40-second tremor was reportedly the strongest in years, shaking buildings.

Some drove their cars away from nearby buildings for fear they would be crushed, while civil defence vehicles and ambulances roamed the streets to provide aid, according to the paper.

Warnings circulated of a tsunami due to hit the country, but the Director of the National Center for Geophysics, Marilyn Brax, reassured the public that they were not at risk.

Minister of  the interior and municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi, stated: "There are no collapsed buildings and the circulated news about the collapse of buildings in the north or in Beirut are not true.

"Only a wall collapsed, and some limited damage occurred in another location,” he added.

The minister called on "all citizens to evacuate the old buildings in the event that there are many cracks, for fear of any new disaster”.

Two Syrian journalists killed by earthquake

Monday's earthquake killed two Syrian journalists, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, including Ghiath Abu Ahmed, who died due to the collapse of his house in the city of Sarmada, in Idlib, Syria.

Activists confirmed on their personal Facebook accounts that photojournalist Ammar Siwar and journalist Yaman al-Khatib were trapped under the rubble with their families inside their houses.

The journalist from Al Araby TV Elaf Yassin published an appeal on her Facebook page asking for help in the search for her family, whose home was demolished in the city of Antakya, southern Turkey.

Qatar sends 10,000 mobile homes to Turkey

The State of Qatar announced it was sending thousands of mobile homes to those affected by the earthquake, according to Al-Khaleej Online.

The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had allocated 10,000 mobile homes to be sent to the affected areas.

On Monday, Qatar announced that it had established an air bridge to support Turkey and that it had sent a specialised search and rescue team to assist in relief work, as well as a field hospital, relief aid, tents and winter supplies.

Qatar Charity also announced the launch of a relief campaign for the earthquake victims in Turkey and northern Syria.

*Arabic press review is a digest of news reports not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.