CNN 2010-01-20

we're at the Caribbean Market in -- it's a big supermarket that collapsed² in Pour-au-Prince. This is just one of the locations where rescue teams have been frantically³ working, trying to dig out survivors⁴ still alive after nearly five days under the rubble⁵.

And I'm joined by Captain Joe Zahralban, he's with the Florida Task Force II Search and Rescue. He's commanding it.

 

Can you tell me, sir, right now there's an operation underway. You're trying to rescue two people. Can you tell me about them, please?

 

Yes, we do have an operation underway. We do have two people we are currently speaking with, a male and a female. They are both in good health, however, they are trapped. This one is No. 4 and No. 5 at this location. One of the obstacles that we're having now is this one has become much more difficult, the stakes are much higher due to the fact that we have an area of the structure that has somewhat collapsed.

So, we doubled our rescue efforts, we went from our 40-person team to an 80-person team. We have all feet on the ground and all equipment and they're working feverishly⁶ with the best minds thinking of innovative⁷ ideas in order to affect the rescue without harming the victim.

 

And overnight you rescued three other people. Can you tell me about that operation?

Yes. Overnight we did rescue three people. One was a young female child, the second was approximately a 30-year-old male and the third was a 50-year-old female.

An American woman who came out early this morning, right? And you spoke⁸ to her son in Florida.

 

Yes, as a matter of fact, it was an American female and she does have a son that lives in Pembroke Pines, Florida, which is in close proximity⁹ to Miami. She also has a sister that showed up here that we spoke with directly and assured her we did find her relative and we provided proper treatment and her relative is on the way to the hospital. So, it's funny that actually the individual who's assisting with the performance of the rescue, actually drilling to get her out was one of our firefighters that come from Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue, the same city that her son lives in.

Can you tell me, how does somebody survive in a five-story concrete deathtrap like this for five days?

 

Well, when you have a collapse¹ in situations such as earthquakes, you have... in this particular situation, we had a pancake collapse. Even in pancake collapses¹⁰, you have void spaces that enable life to survive. And if you're going to be trapped in any place for an extended period of time, a supermarket is the best place I can think of, because all the food came falling down around the victims and they actually had something to eat while they were waiting to be rescued.

 

And a final question, what are the conditions your men are working in right now? How much space do they have to operate in as they're boring in on these last two survivors in there?

 

They are crawling through such tight spaces down through the center of the structure, sometimes to the point where there's impingement on their chest where they can only take half a breath. That's how tight it is, but it's imperative¹¹ that we get them in there, make contact with the victim and start getting treatment to the victim, start getting water to the victim, and assure the victim that somebody's coming for them. It's important that we keep the victim's spirits up to ensure that survival.

 

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

6 feverishly   

adv. 兴奋地

参考例句：

• Feverishly he collected his data. 他拼命收集资料。
• The company is having to cast around feverishly for ways to cut its costs. 公司迫切须要想出各种降低成本的办法。

7 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

10 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

11 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。