Separated after Turkey earthquake, mother and infant reunited after DNA testing

A Syrian baby has been reunited with her mother after DNA testing some 54 days after a catastrophic earthquake that struck southern Turkey, with the pair rescued and treated at separate facilities.

The baby, now three-and-a-half months old, was pulled from rubble 128 hours after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit southern Turkey and parts of northern Syria on February 6, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Services.

Authorities were initially not able to locate the baby’s family.

She was placed under state care and taken to a temporary shelter in the nation’s capital, Ankara.

Caregivers gave her the name, Gizem, and referred to her as the “miracle baby".

Gizem and her family, who are Syrian, were living in the Turkish province of Hatay, according to the ministry.

Her mother, Yasemin Begdas, survived the quake, but Gizem’s father and two brothers died.

Following DNA testing, Turkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Services were able to determine baby Gizem’s mother was Yasemin, who was receiving treatment at a public hospital in Adana in southern Turkey.

Baby Gizem’s official name is Vetin Begdas, according to the ministry.

She was reunited with her mother in an Adana hospital room last Friday.

The February 6 earthquake killed over 50,000 people in Turkey, which hosts some 3.5 million Syrian refugees.