Author Topic: Miracles occur in Iran, too (Read 126 times)

Trauma-san · « **on:** January 07, 2004, 11:22:18 PM »

I declare this an offical miracle.

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Elderly woman pulled from rubble

Jan 04, 2004

An elderly woman rescued from the rubble of the Bam earthquake said she had been kept alive by God and after eight long days freezing and without food or water had just one humble request - a cup of tea.

Shahrbanou Mazandarani, believed to be in her 90s, became an instant celebrity after she was found by soldiers who spotted a hand protruding from the ruins of a collapsed building.

At first they thought they had discovered just another corpse. But after hearing a faint voice they began digging.

It still took three hours to pull the tiny but robust woman from beneath fallen timbers that had protected her from debris and created an air space in which she was able to survive against very long odds.

"Chai"- the Persian word for tea - was among the first words Mazandarani uttered. But when rescuers handed the healthy-looking woman a steaming cup of the beloved Iranian drink, she pushed it away.

"It's hot," she admonished them. "Don't give it to me now."

The "miracle of Bam" rescue gave the battered nation badly needed relief from a week of gloom after a quake that killed at least 30,000. Images of her reciting from memory a poem as she lay in a hospital bed quickly filled television screens.

"God kept me alive," Mazandarani said before reciting the poem about God and his power in running the universe. She had been found wrapped in a blanket that rescuers said may have helped save her life.

Aged between 50 and 100

There was confusion about her age. Red Crescent spokeswoman Masoumeh Malek first said Mazandarani was "about 60". Perhaps reluctant to reveal her true age, Mazandarani had said she was "in her 50s" when medics asked her how old she was.

The Red Crescent later said she was aged 97 and neighbours said the toothless woman, whose skin was deeply wrinkled and weathered, was 98. State television at one point said she was 95, but later revised that to 100.

"It's a miracle," said Red Crescent worker Abdollah Moundehali. "She had been half sheltered in a corner by a bit of wood that toppled on top of her."

Wearing a blue dark blue blouse and a traditional headscarf, Mazandarani became an instant celebrity, surrounded by dozens of journalists, medical staff, and other well-wishers eager to savour the moment.

Her white hair had several orange patches where it had apparently been dyed.

At one point in an interview from her hospital bed broadcast on state television she seemed slightly confused about where she was and had been. When asked where she was found, Mazandarani twice replied: "Right here!"

Lying on a hospital bed and propped up by pillows, Mazandarani was wrapped warmly under a layer of blankets and given sips of tea by a nurse as reporters and doctors looked on.

"She doesn't have a single scratch on her face," Malek, from the Red Crescent, said. "She can talk to us and answer our questions. When I ask her something she says 'yes dear'."

No survivors had been found in the devastated city since Thursday when three people were rescued. Experts say survival in such conditions and without food or water is unlikely even beyond three days.

© Reuters

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Well, the experts don't know much, then, do they? This woman, even at her old age, had the human spirit in her and just absolutely refused to die. Hell, I'm strong but I probably would have died. Don't be so quick to scoff off her claims that God kept her alive, stranger things have happened. In cases like this, I'm not sure if we're supposed to take what she says figurately as something she interpreted, or if she actually saw something. Hmm, we could downplay this, or I could tell you a few words that spring to mind. Unbelievable. Amazing. Inspiring. Awesome. Incredible. Re-affirming.

The Big Bad Ass · « **Reply #1 on:** January 07, 2004, 11:35:18 PM »

Saw this on the news earlier this week. Crazy shit.

Trauma-san · « **Reply #2 on:** January 07, 2004, 11:36:45 PM »

That too, lol.

The Big Bad Ass · « **Reply #3 on:** January 07, 2004, 11:39:34 PM »

I agree it's pretty much a miracle... just crazy that someone that old could keep on keepin on

Trauma-san · « **Reply #4 on:** January 07, 2004, 11:41:22 PM »

it shows me ANYTHING'S possible. There's no way she should have survived, should have been the first to die, but she didn't want to die, so she stayed alive. Simple as that, we can all do that in any situation.