The rescue workers cheered as the young girl was lifted from the ruins. A week after disaster hit the city of Adiyaman, it seemed impossible that anyone could have survived - yet Miray had.

This is not the only extraordinary tale of survival after the earthquake. In the same province, 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer was found alive after 198 hours.

Many people called these events miraculous. For the young people to have survived the collapse of the buildings was extraordinary enough; and humans can usually only last a few days without water.

Miracles are an important part of all major religions. Even in modern times, there is a strong belief in them.

One survey¹ found that 79% of people in the US believe in them. Another, carried out in 10 countries, found that over a third of Christians claimed to have witnessed divine healing.  

But some people say things can only be true if there is a scientific explanation. The 18th Century philosopher David Hume claimed² that miracles were believed only by people who were gullible Easily fooled. and biased by their religious beliefs.

But some very clever people say they have witnessed them - including 55% of doctors in the US, according to another survey.  

In the 5th Century St Augustine argued that miracles are perfectly natural. They just do not fit in with what we know about nature. If we understood the world properly, we would see that everything that happens is part of God's plan.

"Is not the universe itself a miracle?" he asked. Modern Christians emphasise that the chances of Earth having exactly the right conditions to produce life are incredibly small.

Scientists have replied with the theory that there are lots of universes - so many that the chances of life appearing in one were very high. But, as with miracles, it is something no one can prove. 

Yes: The chances of Miray not being killed with the other people in the building, and then surviving for such a long time without food or water, are so minute that this has to be regarded as one.

No: There is a perfectly rational explanation for it. Miray was in the part of the building least affected by the earthquake, she was young and strong, and the cold reduced the effect of her injuries.   

Or... It is a miracle if we go by the Oxford English Dictionary's secondary definition of "any remarkable occurrence". We are inclined to call things miracles because the idea of them cheers us up.