Rescuers know that the overnight quiet is the best time for desperate searches—the only kind left to do beyond the 72-hour mark, after most live victims can be recovered from quake rubble. In the dark, with trucks stilled, trench-digging for graves subsided, and the cries of babies and mourners muffled, stalwart teams flicked on headlamps and sonar equipment. What rescuers remained pursued every report of possible life, probing bewildering lumps of mud bricks in defiance of the unyielding foul stench of death. Each operation began with the vigor of a bivouac but faded to the solemnity of final rites as the workers failed to uncover life beneath the rubble.

It was December 26th.
The statistics are people, and it’s hard to get one’s mind around it all.
In the worst earthquake in more than a decade 30 thousand bodies were buried in the first few days. 50 thousand dead is unbelievably probable.
12 thousand people injured, some horribly.
And 90 thousand people are homeless, huddling in aid tents, wrapped in blankets in sub-zero temperatures.
World Magazine takes an unswerving look at what faces experienced aid agencies and how devestation can rock political and religious walls.

What were you doing on Boxing Day?
That is when the 6.7 quake hit.
Today they pulled a 56 year old man from the rubble alive.
13 days. Trapped under a wardrobe with rubble on top. Air. A bit of water. No food.
The probability of finding survivors after 3 days narrows to the miraculous.
While you’ve lived your life the past 13 days, he fought to keep his.
His name is Jalil.