Ecuador earthquake: Rescuers pull 72yo survivor from rubble two weeks after disaster

Crews have rescued a 72-year-old survivor of Ecuador's deadly earthquake almost two weeks after it struck the South American country.

A visiting Venezuelan search team located Manuel Vasquez, who had been trapped under rubble since the 7.8-magnitude quake that killed 660 people, the Venezuelan embassy in Quito said on its website. www.abc.net.au... This person is a very lucky man, being buried for two weeks and it's also a wonder he didn't die for exposure or dehydration. A very LUCKY person indeed....

That's absolutely incredible that they survived for so long. That must have been an awful two weeks.

How is that even possible? I thought humans can only live for a few days, a week at most, without water.
Did he have a water bottle or something?

Never mind luck, how does this work biologically?

a reply to: maskim

I have always questioned the general "you can only live a few days without water" statement. Having had an eating disorder earlier in life, there were times where I did not eat or drink for a week or more. It would make me rather ill, but I never died. There may be some other things factored into the "a few days" estimate, such as physical activity and temperature. If you are sweating, you'll dehydrate much faster, as you would if you were moving about in a survival situation. This man was trapped and therefore could not exert much energy at all, which likely helped him retain more water in his body. I'm no expert though; those are just some of the first things that come to mind, I'm certain someone more knowledgeable would be able to give a better answer.

Surviving for two weeks in that situation is still amazing. As this story shows, I believe the body is capable of amazing things sometimes. But man, I could not even imagine what it'd be like to be in that situation.