A digital image, which shows a rescuer from the Greek Emergency Disaster Response Team (EMAK) holding a small Turkish child in his arms and went viral in the last few days, was uploaded on Instagram by the queen of pop herself, Madonna.
As she emphasised in the message accompanying the photo, along with other photos that capture the tragedy after the devastating earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, "Everyone is talking about Love on Valentine’s Day!! Entire cities have been erased. It’s Heart breaking!"
It is noted that Madonna has almost 19 million followers on Instagram.
Check out her post:
View this post on Instagram
Madonna's post in full:
Everyone is talking about Love on Valentine’s Day!! ♥️. Let’s send All our Love and Healing energy to Turkey And Syria who have suffered great Loss and Devastation in this immense earthquake. 33,181 people have died. So many have lost there homes and jobs not to mention there loved ones. Entire cities have been erased. It’s Heart breaking!
The history of the image
With a digital art image, Retired Major General of the Fire Brigade, Panagiotis Kotridis, former Regional Commander of the Fire Service of the Aegean Sea, wanted to send his own message of support to his colleagues who fought to save lives in the regions of Turkey that were hit by the deadly quake.
The image, which captures a fantastic composition according to the creator, has gone viral in recent days on Greek and Turkish social media networks, fully reflecting the contribution of EMAK in the affected areas of Turkey.
"To honour the colleagues who are doing their best to save those affected by the earthquakes in Turkey, I made this photo," he said in his post, adding: "I'm here for you" in Greek, English and Turkish. The composition depicts a Greek fireman lovingly holding a small child, whom he freed from the ruins.
As the creator pointed out, this is a composition and not a real photo. It's the result of photoshop and Midjourney (artificial intelligence program).
The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes has crossed 41,000. Turkish authorities say 35,418 people have been killed in the country. The Syrian government and the UN say more than 5,800 people died in Syria.
Search and rescue operations were continuing in southern Turkey, even as hope of finding survivors faded nine days since the initial earthquakes.
The Turkish government has said that 74 teams from abroad had travel to the country to help in rescues since the earthquakes first hit on February 6.
Despite the closing window for finding people alive, there were some bright spots on Wednesday, including a 42-year-old woman pulled from the rubble in Kahramanmaras after 222 hours.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi will head to Syria and Turkey on Wednesday in a “show of solidarity” after the quake that killed thousands of people in both countries, his ministry has said.
Jordan, which neighbours Syria, has sent large shipments of aid to both countries with the kingdom sending a field hospital to Turkey and organising several large aid convoys through the country’s northern border crossing with Syria.
However, Safadi’s visit to Damascus would be the first such trip by a top Jordanian official to Syria since the more than decade-long conflict devastated Syria and saw both sides take opposing camps.
Staunch US ally Jordan had supported insurgent groups that had sought to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but later backed the Russian-led military campaign that regained southern Syria from jihadist control.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s stock exchange, which has been closed for the past week following the earthquakes, has reopened.
Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index opened with a 5.8 percent gain over February 7, when it had seen a sharp fall in the aftermath of the disasters. By the time the exchange was temporarily shut on February 8, the index had fallen 16 percent compared with pre-quake levels.
