Overwhelmed rescuers struggled to save people trapped under the rubble as the death toll from a devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria rose past 4,400 on Tuesday (7 February), with despair mounting and the scale of the disaster hampering relief efforts.
In the Turkish city of Antakya near the Syrian border, where 10-storey buildings crumbled onto the streets, journalists saw rescue work being conducted on one out of dozens of mounds of rubble.
The temperature was close to freezing as the rain came down and there was no electricity or fuel in the city.
The magnitude 7.8 quake hit Turkey and neighboring Syria early on Monday, toppling thousands of buildings including many apartment blocks, wrecking hospitals, and leaving thousands of people injured or homeless.
In Turkey, the death toll climbed to 5,894 people, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said. In Syria, the death toll climbed to over 1,900 people.
