A person in good health can
survive for a week under rubble providing he or she does not
have serious injuries and can breathe, Mario Costa, past
president of Società Sistema 118, said Thursday.
"The chance of survival depends on various factors"
including age and physical condition, he continued amid fears
that many people may still be trapped in collapsed buildings
after Wednesday's 6.2-magnitude earthquake in central Italy that
left at least 247 people dead.
The biggest threat to survival is posed by injury or
serious fractures or by so-called 'crush syndrome' that occurs
when body parts are compressed.
"These conditions obviously lower resistance considerably,"
Costa said.
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