We're pausing our coverage of the aftermath of Monday's earthquakes, which claimed the lives of more than 12,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

Rescue efforts are still ongoing in both countries as survivors seek out food and shelter in tough conditions.

Our coverage today was edited by Sarah Fowler, Emma Owen, Marianna Brady and Victoria Lindrea.

It was written by Malu Cursino, Alys Davies, Christy Cooney, Sean Seddon and Aoife Walsh.

A major international rescue effort is under way after more than 12,000 people in Turkey and Syria were killed in Monday's earthquake.

Here are the latest developments:

• EU aid: The EU said it would send €3.5m (£3.1m) in aid to Syria and an initial €3m (£2.7m) in aid to Turkey. The bloc announced plans to host a donors conference next month to marshal international aid for Syria and Turkey
• 'Horrific' conditions: The World Health Organisation warned humanitarian organisations face another challenge in keeping survivors alive. The WHO's incident response manager, Robert Holden, said thousands are surviving in "worsening and horrific conditions". Temperatures are dropping in the region, with overnight averages of -7 expected in Gaziantep - the epicentre of the quake
• Erdogan faces criticism: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing mounting criticism from opposition figures over the state's response. During a visit to Hatay - one of the hardest-hit regions - President Erdogan insisted it was "not possible to be prepared for a disaster this big"

• Fundraising appeal: The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee has launched an appeal in a bid to raise funds to go towards medical aid, shelter, food, clean water and other supplies. The UK government will match the first £2m ($2.4m) of donations from the public

Image source, EPA

It is nearly 72 hours since the earthquake struck in southern Turkey and northern Syria and "the window to get shelter, medical supplies, water and food to the worst affected areas.... is rapidly closing," says the charity Save the Children.

The earthquakes are estimated to have impacted about 23 million people, among them many children - and survivors are struggling to cope without shelter, food or heat in freezing conditions along the Turkey/Syria border.

Those affected urgently need basic humanitarian aid such as blankets and clean water. Sanitation in temporary shelters is also a growing priority, states the charity.

“There are limited hygiene facilities and availability of food sources," says Berna Koroglu, Save the Children's Emergency Response Team Coordinator, who is currently in Hatay, Turkey.

"We need support, and especially psychological first aid support for children, who have watched their homes and schools collapse.

"The international community needs to do all it can to support local humanitarian workers.”

Heba Ayoub
BBC Newshour

A special adviser to the Syrian president has accused the West of playing politics when it comes to providing Syria with humanitarian aid following Monday's earthquake.

Speaking on BBC Newshour, Dr Bouthaina Shaaban called for the EU and US to lift sanctions, saying Syrians abroad were unable to send money to help those affected by the disaster.

Dr Shaaban accused the West of only wanting to send aid to the White Helmets organisation – the volunteer group the operates in Syrian opposition-held areas - which Syria claims is a "terrorist group".

Earlier, US President Joe Biden said that aid was being delivered to all areas regardless of who is controlling the territory. EU officials have also insisted that the bloc's sanctions against the Syrian authorities are having no impact on its potential to help.

When asked whether Syrian government had been co-ordinating with the Turkish government, Dr Shaaban said they had not.

She said: "Turkey is occupying part of [their] land".

Dr Shaaban claimed other nations were treating her country differently to Turkey, asking: "Why don’t [western nations] treat people in the same way?"

She added: "It’s not humanity, it’s politics. We are sure of that now."

The Earth's crust is made up of separate bits, called plates, which nestle alongside one another.

These plates often try to move but are prevented by the friction of rubbing up against an adjoining one. But sometimes the pressure builds until one plate suddenly jerks across, causing the surface to move.

In this case it was the Arabian plate moving northwards and grinding against the Anatolian plate.

Friction from the plates has been responsible for very damaging earthquakes in the same region in the past.

On 13 August 1822 it caused an earthquake registering 7.4 in magnitude - albeit significantly less than the 7.8 magnitude quake recorded on Monday.

Even so, the 19th Century earthquake resulted in immense damage to towns in the area, with 7,000 deaths recorded in the Syrian city of Aleppo alone. Damaging aftershocks continued for nearly a year.

There have already been several aftershocks following the current earthquake and scientists are anticipating it may well follow the same trend as the 1822 tragedy.

Read more here.

A shortage of body bags is preventing aid workers from handling dead bodies properly and offering dignified burials, the head of the Red Cross's Middle East division has said.

Jeremy Smith told the PA news agency that, since Monday, the group had been working to deliver vital aid - such as heaters, tents, and food - to survivors of the earthquake.

"In the coming hours and days, the focus is starting to ensure that we are doing proper dead body management, that we have body bags going to where they need to be, that we can have safe and dignified burials for the victims," he said.

"We're hearing news from colleagues in Turkey that there aren't enough body bags for the people that have been killed. That is a big and growing need for us."

Smith also described the situation in Syria, where a long-running civil war had already destroyed much of the energy and medical infrastructure, as a "crisis within a crisis".

"Because this has happened in the middle of winter, this is really the nightmare worst-case scenario," he said.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Adana

Medical student Aylin Pulat couldn't get hold of several members of her family, including her parents, after the earthquake struck.

She is based in Mugla, more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from her family home in Adiyaman.

With no news on her family's fate, she took a four-hour bus trip, a two-hour flight and a more than two-hour drive back to her home city to find out if they were alive.

To her great relief, she arrived to find that her siblings and parents had survived. But 20 other relatives had died.

"When I found them, they were all dressed in pyjamas and that's how I knew they had escaped with nothing. We all just froze."

Read more here.

We've been hearing a lot of criticism today aimed at the Turkish government over the the speed and efficacy of its response to the two quakes that hit on Monday.

But Ilnur Cevik, special advisor to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said there were many challenges to grapple with in the aftermath of the disaster.

Speaking to the BBC's Newshour, Cevik said getting aid to the affected areas was virtually impossible due to the damage done to infrastructure and the sheer scale of the disaster.

Cevik said that in the city of Hatay, one of the affected areas, "the disaster management teams were also under the rubble, so there was nobody to help rescue the people".

He added that getting resources to affected areas was difficult, with major roads unusable.

“You can mobilise anything you want… if you can’t get them there it’s just theoretical," he said.

Anger is growing in Turkey over beliefs that poor enforcement of regulations may have contributed to the collapse of many buildings in the recent earthquakes.

When asked whether the government bears responsibility for letting buildings of insufficient standards be built, Cevik said: "You can have any building code you like… but if it’s a killer quake, that building is going to collapse."

Image source, EPA

As has been seen over the past two days, rescuing people trapped under masonry following an earthquake can be a lengthy and difficult task.

When rescuers first arrive at the scene, they have to assess which collapsed buildings are most likely to contain survivors.

They do this by looking for "voids" - spaces under large concrete beams or stairwells where people might be found.

The possibility a building could collapse further also needs to be taken into consideration, as do other dangers such as gas leaks, flooding and hazardous materials such as asbestos in roofs.

Buildings that have completely collapsed are usually the last to be searched, because the likelihood of finding survivors is very slim.

While rescuers attempt to reach survivors, support workers watch for building movements and listen out for human sounds.

Heavy machinery, like diggers and hydraulic jacks, can also be used to move larger bits of wreckage, while specialist video and sound equipment can aid the search for those trapped beneath.

Silence on the site is needed while a member of the rescue team bangs three times and hopes to hear a response.

Thermal imaging equipment, carbon dioxide detectors and specially trained sniffer dogs are also among the tools used to help detect human life.

And - where the murmur of life is discerned - sometimes, it's a question of digging with your bare hands.

Read the full story here.

Image source, EPA

A critical aid route between Turkey and Syria may be passable by Thursday, a senior United Nations official has suggested.

The Bab al-Hawa crossing, which runs into Idlib province, has been closed since the earthquake struck, but Muhannad Hadi, the UN's regional humanitarian co-ordinator for the Syria crisis, said there was "a glimpse of hope that the road is accessible and we can reach the people".

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is under international pressure to ensure relief is able to reach areas which reject his rule.

Meanwhile, Turkey says it’s hoping to open two more border crossings into Syria to enable the delivery of desperately needed supplies into the country.

"There are some difficulties in terms of Turkey's and the international community's aid [reaching Syria]. For this reason, efforts are being made to open two more border gates," said Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday.

More than 1,500 people have died in Idlib province alone and rescue workers there have little equipment or medical supplies.

The EU confirmed it will send €3.5m (£3.1m) in aid to Syria after the government there made an official request for assistance - but asserted that any aid must reach both government-controlled and rebel-held areas.

In the wake of Monday's devastating earthquake, humanitarian organisations face the ensuing challenge of making sure people who survived the earthquake "continue to survive", says the World Heath Organization.

Speaking at a press conference in Geneva earlier today, Robert Holden - the WHO's incident response manager - said there were thousands of people now surviving "out in the open, in worsening and horrific conditions", with disrupted access to water, fuel, electricity and communications.

"We are in real danger of seeing a secondary disaster which may cause harm to more people than the initial disaster if we don't move with the same pace and intensity as we are doing on the search and rescue," he said.

"This is no easy task... The scale of the operation is massive."

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

The whereabouts of former Newcastle and Ghana forward Christian Atsu remain unknown following Monday's earthquakes, his agent has said, despite earlier reports that he had been found alive.

Writing on social media on Wednesday, Nana Schere said: "We are doing everything we can to locate Christian. As you can imagine, this continues to be a devastating time for his family."

Atsu, from Ghana, has won 65 caps with his country and played for Premier League sides Chelsea, Everton, and Newcastle United. He currently plays for top-flight Turkish side Hatayspor, in the city of Antakya - about 80 miles south of the earthquakes' epicentres.

On Tuesday, the club's vice president, Mustafa Özat, told a Turkish radio station that Atsu had been pulled from the rubble of a building "with injuries".

But Schere's post stressed the football club were "yet to confirm Christian's whereabouts".

Hatayspor manager Volkan Demirel told Turkish sport website Spor Arena, external there was "no news yet" on either Atsu or sporting director Taner Savut, who was reported missing on Monday along with the player.

It comes after Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan, a goalkeeper for second-tier Turkish side Yeni Malatyaspor, was confirmed by his club to have been killed in the earthquake.

Read the full story here.

Image source, Getty Images

The EU has announced plans to host a donors conference next month to marshal international aid for Syria and Turkey following this week's catastrophic earthquake.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter, external that the bloc was "racing against the clock to save lives together".

"Soon we will provide relief aid, together. Turkiye and Syria can count on the EU," she tweeted.

The event, aimed at co-ordinating the international response to the disaster, will be open to EU member states, neighbouring countries and UN members.

"No-one should be left alone when a tragedy like this hits a people," von der Leyen said, in a statement.

The meeting will be co-chaired, in Brussels, by Sweden, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"Sweden wants to ensure that the EU's assistance is adequate to meet the need of the Turkish and Syrian people in this terrible time," said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

It comes at a time when Turkey has suggested blocking Sweden's push to join Nato over Sweden's refusal to extradite dozens of people allegedly tied to Kurdish militant groups.

A video released by Turkish rescuers shows people, including a baby, being freed from the rubble days after the massive earthquake hit.

The video contains some upsetting scenes.

An appeal is being launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to help the many thousands of people affected by the earthquake.

The committee is a collective of 15 UK charities - including Oxfam, Save the Children UK and the British Red Cross - which work together to raise money in response to major crises overseas.

The funds raised will go towards medical aid, shelter, food and clean water, as well as blankets, warm clothes and heaters - as homeless survivors and the injured battle freezing temperatures.

The UK government will match the first £2m ($2.4m) of donations from the public.

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed described the scenes in Turkey and Syria as "heartbreaking", with thousands "losing loved ones, suddenly, in the most shocking of ways".

You can read the full story here and donate to the appeal on the DEC website, external.

Image source, EPA

Pictures show survivors being pulled from the rubble in Turkey's Hatay province, which sits immediately south of earthquakes' epicentres.

Some had been buried for more than 60 hours since the initial quake struck in the early hours of Monday.

Following a natural disaster such as an earthquake, experts say there is a critical 72-hour window during which the vast majority of survivors are rescued.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

A huge fire at one of Turkey's main container ports has been extinguished, the defence ministry has said.

The blaze at Iskenderun, on southern Turkey's Mediterranean coast, was caused by Monday's earthquakes.

Hundreds of shipping containers caught fire, sending an enormous plume of dense, black smoke into the sky.

Emergency services initially found it difficult to access the fire because of quake damage and dislodged containers blocking the entrance.

Military helicopters and planes were used to help bring the fire under control. It was initially extinguished on Tuesday but later reignited.

The local mayor confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that the fire had been extinguished again and that efforts to cool the site were under way.

All operations were shut down at the port following the earthquake, with shipping firms forced to divert their vessels to other terminals in the region. There has been no word yet on when the port will reopen.

Read more.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, EPA

A panel news programme on a northern Syria-based TV station has painted a bleak picture of the situation there.

Activist Ahmed Abu Hamza told Al-Yaum, with the exception of an "Egyptian technical team", no supplies had made it through to rebel-held Idlib province.

He said local crews would not be able to cope for more than a few days without help, adding: "There will be a catastrophe in northern Syria."

More than 1,500 people are reported to have died in a region which relief agencies struggled to reach even before the earthquake.

Another commentator told the panel discussion they feared support from Europe and the US would arrive too late.

A former MP who defected from the government in Damascus during the civil war said "no country can bear the toll alone, not Syria and not Turkey".

Some aid from countries which back Syria or may be considered prospective allies has been flown in today but it's feared the regime could block it from reaching areas held by opposition groups.

Alice Cuddy, Reporting from Iskenderun

Rescue workers called for silence at a fallen apartment building in central Iskenderun, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, today after hearing signs of life beneath the rubble.

Families desperately waiting for news of missing loved ones held their breath - before the rescue workers called for an ambulance, confirming someone was alive.

Cheers broke out and many cried. They told us it was the building’s first confirmed survivor.

The rescue workers and volunteers then formed a chain, carrying a woman over the rubble.

Neighbours told us the survivor was a single mother in her 50s who lived alone in the building.

Her son was waiting for her as she was carried into the ambulance.

People still waiting for news of their own loved ones said it gave them hope for a miracle of their own.

Anger is growing in Turkey that poor enforcement of building regulations contributed to the collapse of many buildings in Monday's earthquakes, leading to the soaring death toll.

Construction regulations were tightened following previous disasters in Turkey, most recently in 2018.

Stricter safety standards were also brought in following the 1999 earthquake around the city of Izmit, in the north-west of the country, in which 17,000 people died.

But periodic "construction amnesties", which offer legal exemption to those structures built without the required safety certificates for a stated fee, have contributed to the recent catastrophe, experts suggest.

Up to 75,000 buildings across the affected earthquake zone , externalin southern Turkey have been given construction amnesties, according to Pelin Pınar Giritlioğlu, Istanbul head of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects' Chamber of City Planners.

BBC's Reality Check has been looking at some of the more recently constructed buildings which collapsed during Monday's earthquake and what claims were originally made regarding earthquake compliance by the companies who completed them.

Read on to find out more.