Image source, EPA

Rescue crews in Turkey and Syria are continuing to search beneath the rubble for survivors of Monday's devastating earthquakes.

We'll be pausing our coverage shortly, but before we do, here are the latest developments:

• The death toll has now exceeded 25,000 - including 21,848 people who have died in Turkey and a reported 3,553 in Syria, where new figures have not been released since Friday
• Some 24.4 million people in both countries have been affected, according to Turkish officials and the United Nations cites by Reuters, in an area spanning roughly 450 km (280 miles)
• A family of five have reportedly been pulled from the rubble in Turkey five days after the quake, but despite some miraculous rescues, hope of finding many more survivors is fading
• The UN's aid chief has told the BBC that "a conclusion is needed on when to call off the rescue effort", adding that the natural disaster is the worst he's ever seen
• The BBC's Quentin Sommerville is in Syria, where the White Helmets group have told him the international community "has blood on its hands" over not sending aid
• In Turkey, two German aid groups and the Austrian army have suspended their operations over concern about the worsening security situation
• Turkish officials have not reported clashes in the region following the quake, but President Erdogan earlier said that the government would take action against those involved in looting and other crimes

Two German aid groups are the latest organisations to suspend operations in southern Turkey, citing the worsening security situation there following Monday's earthquake.

The German International Search and Rescue (ISAR) and Germany's Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) said they would resume their work as soon as Turkish civil protection agency AFAD says the situation is safe.

"There are more and more reports of clashes between different factions, shots have also been fired," said ISAR spokesperson Stefan Heine.

The organisation's operations manager, Steven Bayer, also told Reuters: "You can see that sadness is slowly giving way to anger. We will therefore remain in the joint camp with the THW for the time being".

He added that the groups would be immediately ready to help if there are any indications of survivors.

It comes after the Austrian army earlier suspended rescue operations in Turkey due to what its spokesperson called "an increasingly difficult security situation".

Turkish authorities have not reported clashes in the quake-hit region, but President Tayyip Erdogan commented on the general security situation today, noting that a state of emergency had been declared and that there had been some looting.

Drone footage shows the makeshift camps that have popped up in the wreckage of collapsed buildings in the rebel-held town of Harem in Idlib, Syria, as rescuers continue to search for survivors.

A group of around 30 people gathered outside Downing Street to protest the perceived lack of aid that Syrian victims of the earthquake have received in comparison to Turkey.

Protesters held up signs saying "Syrian Lives Matter" and "Save Lives Now."

One of the organisers, Mazen Gharibah, told the BBC that the UK and UN response to Syria had been "shameful."

He added that they are asking the UK government to increase their level of financial support, but also emphasised the importance of remembering the local rescue teams need equipment.

"Let's not forget that these local rescue teams have family members under the rubble that are hurt and injured."

Another protester, Tahlil Hakim, said that her aunts back in Syria have had to sleep in their cars because "they're too afraid to stay in their homes."

"We need governments to send food and aid," she says.

Quentin Sommerville
Reporting from Sarmada, Syria

Ismail al Abdullah of the Syrian Civil Defence Force, or White Helmets, tells me they have stopped searching for survivors.

“We needed rescue equipment that never came.”

The international community has “blood on its hands,” he says.

The doctors I met here have no time for the international community’s excuses for not sending aid.

“We don’t have enough medical staff in normal times, never mind during a catastrophe,” says Dr Farouk Al Omar at the SAMS Bab al-Hawa hospital.

When the first quake hit they had only one ultrasound machine for 350 patients.

“We didn’t sleep for 48 hours,” he adds.

Image source, EPA

A family of five were pulled from the rubble to safety in Turkey's Gaziantep province earlier today five days after Monday's earthquake, according to a report from AP.

The family are reported to have survived in their collapsed home in the region, which is located close to the epicentre of the 7.8 magnitude quake.

After the parents and their two daughters and son were brought to safety, rescuers are reported to have cheered and chanted “God is Great!”., external

The same news outlet reports further miraculous rescues today - including a seven-year-old girl who was pulled from the debris in the province of Hatay after almost 132 hours.

Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent, in Turkey

“It's the worst natural disaster that I've ever seen. And it's also the most extraordinary international response,” was how the UN’s humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths summed up this situation as we stand on a street in Kahramanmaras all but erased by the force of this seismic jolt.

“It’s a really difficult question but what’s needed most now is a conclusion on when to call off the rescue effort,” he reflected, grimly.

The consequences of that question are written on the faces of the many displaced sitting, sorrowfully, on plastic chairs and cement blocks, watching rescue teams still scrambling over jagged mounds of rubble.

Today, black body bags keep coming out.

Asked about criticism from the worst-hit area in Syria, the rebel-held enclave of Idlib where little aid has arrived, Griffiths said they were “looking very actively and firmly at opening more crossing points” on the Turkish border.

“We’re going to put a resolution before the Security Council and if anyone wants to veto, let them do so," he declared in a veiled warning to Russia and China who’ve vetoed past motions to support the Syrian government’s claim that they violate its sovereignty.

But he pointed that Damascus had agreed they could move “without let or hindrance” into northwest Syria by crossing from government-controlled territory, and were allowing UN staff to deploy to that area – very, very constructive he said.

Asked about charges that politics was getting in the way of UN aid, he protested "that's not fair."

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.

Alice Cuddy, Reporting from Iskenderun

In the northern part of Adana, a group of people stand quietly looking at a hole in the ground where an apartment building used to stand.

Some walk back and forth looking over the site.

There is confusion and quiet anger over why this building fell when the ones around it still stand.

The death toll in Turkey has risen to 21,848, according to the country's President Erdogan.

Some 3,553 people are reported to have died in Syria, according to the AFP news agency, bringing the total number of deaths across both countries to 25,401.

If you're just joining us or need a recap, here's the latest from Turkey and Syria five days after the devastating earthquake struck:

• The death toll from Monday's quake has now surpassed 24,500 - including 21,043 people who have died in Turkey and a reported 3,553 in Syria
• Search operations are still under way and despite hope fading that many more people will be found alive, there have been reports of miraculous rescues, including one boy who was reportedly stretchered out of the rubble in Turkey after 128 hours
• Further aftershocks have been felt in the city of Gaziantep, located near the quake's epicentre, while in neighbouring Syria, one aid worker says traumatised children still think the ground is shaking
• A spokesman for the UN secretary general has told the BBC that now is the time "to put all politics aside" in delivering aid to Syria, adding it is working "as quickly as possible" to get aid to rebel-held areas
• The BBC's Quentin Sommerville is in the rebel-controlled town of Harem and reports people are telling him it's too late for aid and they've stopped recovery efforts
• The quake has been described as the "worst event in 100 years in this region" by the UN's aid chief, who is the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras today. Elsewhere, the WHO's Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is reportedly visiting Aleppo

Image source, .

Quentin Sommerville
Reporting from Harem, Syria

In the olive groves outside the town of Harem, was the village of Bsania. The homes were newly built but they didn’t withstand the earthquake. Now there is nothing left.

The people here waited for help but very little came. They had to dig the dead and the injured from the ruins of their homes by hand. It’s here that I met Abu Ali.

“No one helped us, I don’t even have a tent, do you have a tent?” he asked.

His daughter was alive the entire day after the earthquake. But they couldn’t get to her in time. He dug her out with his bare hands, with help from neighbours. There was no heavy lifting equipment to save her.

Image source, Reuters

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reportedly arrived in Syria's quake-stricken city of Aleppo today, according to state media.

"[He] arrived at the Aleppo airport to tour some hospitals and shelters in Aleppo, with the [Syrian] health minister and the governor of Aleppo," the report from Sana news agency said.

In a separate report, Sana cited Tedros as saying following his arrival: "We have brought 35 tonnes of vital medical supplies required to deal with the needs of those injured by the earthquake."

His visit to the government-controlled city came five days after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria, killing more than 24,000 people including at least 3,553 in war-torn Syria alone.

A border crossing between Armenia and Turkey opened for the first time in 35 years today to allow aid through after Monday's earthquake, according to Turkish state media.

Serdar Kilic, Turkey's special envoy for dialogue with Armenia, said on Twitter that five trucks with aid including medicine, food and water arrived in Turkey from the Alican border crossing this morning.

State news agency Anadolu said this was the first time it had opened since 1988.

Özge Özdemir & Paul Kirby
In Turkey and London

Image source, Reuters

Turkey's most devastating earthquake since 1939 has raised big questions about whether such a large-scale tragedy could have been avoided and whether President Erdogan's government could have done more to save lives.

With elections on the horizon, his future is on the line after 20 years in power and his pleas for national unity have gone unheeded.

Monday's earthquake required a massive rescue operation spread across 10 of Turkey's 81 provinces.

But it took time for the response to build and some villages could not be reached for days. More than 30,000 people from the professional and voluntary sector eventually arrived, along with teams from many other countries.

More than 6,000 buildings collapsed and workers from Turkey's Afad disaster authority were themselves caught up in the earthquakes.

Those initial hours were critical but roads were damaged and search and rescue teams struggled to get through until day two or day three.

Turkey has more experience of earthquakes than almost any other country but the founder of the main volunteer rescue group believes this time, politics got in the way.

President Erdogan has accepted that search efforts were not as fast as the government wanted, despite Turkey having the "largest search and rescue team in the world right now".

Image source, Reuters

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan reiterated today that the government would take action against those involved in looting and other crimes in the region hit by this week's devastating earthquake.

The issue of security has come into focus after the Austrian army suspended rescue operations there due to what its spokesperson called "an increasingly difficult security situation".

It's been reported there have been clashes between unidentified groups and that about 80 Austrian troops in the region have been taking shelter in a base camp with other international organisations, awaiting instructions.

"We've declared a state of emergency," Erdogan said during a visit to the disaster zone today, Reuters reports..

"It means that, from now on, the people who are involved in looting or kidnapping should know that the state's firm hand is on their backs," he said.

Erdogan also said that hundreds of thousands of buildings were uninhabitable across southern Turkey and that authorities would soon start the rebuilding process.

Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent, in Turkey

Image source, Reuters

A crisis within a crisis within a crisis - such is the blighted landscape of Syria, now reeling in the wake of a crushing earthquake and a decade and more of debilitating war.

The country's seismic shock hasn't broken entrenched conflicts and obstacles which have always obstructed urgent humanitarian action in a country ravaged by war.

But days after a deadly earthquake struck, there's a small crack which may widen the spaces for urgent humanitarian action.

"It's a good step forward but many more are needed," the UN's humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, told the BBC after Syrian state media reported that the Syrian cabinet had given the go-ahead for the delivery of humanitarian aid to all parts of the country.

According to the Sana News Agency, that would include both state-controlled areas as well as those controlled by other groups.

The relief effort would be co-ordinated with the United Nations, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross, it said. But the news is also being treated cautiously.

Griffiths stressed the announcement only meant aid could be delivered across Syria's internal front lines - not across the border from neighbouring countries.

"We are also urgently seeking approval for additional crossing points to meet the life-saving needs of the people," he said.

Alice Cuddy, Reporting from Iskenderun

When I travelled into Turkey earlier this week, I met Samet at Istanbul Airport.

He was trying to get to Hatay province to search for his 26-year-old brother Ismail.

He showed me photos of Ismail smiling and then of debris, saying his brother was underneath it.

He has kept in touch since, letting me know of search efforts and his frustration with the lack of support.

In his latest update, he told me Ismail’s body had been found.

“I’m very sad,” he told me by WhatsApp.

“I lost my heart, my everything.” He buried his brother in Hatay today.

Thousands of families in Turkey and Syria are going through the same thing, and the grief here is palpable.

Image source, Reuters

The devastating earthquake that has left more than 24,000 people dead and displaced millions in Turkey and Syria has been described as the "worst event in 100 years in this region" by the UN's aid chief.

Martin Griffiths is visiting the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras today, which is close to the quake's epicentre in the south-east of the country.

Speaking during a news briefing, Griffiths said the scale of the disaster - and the response to it - was unprecedented.

"What happened here on Monday...was the worst event in a hundred years in this region," he told reporters.

"The response as you have seen here... is also unique. There has never been an international response, a Turkish response, to a natural disaster as we've seen in these terrible days."

He also told Reuters news agency that he hoped aid for Syria would go to both government and opposition-held areas, but added that the situation was "not clear yet".

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville has arrived in Syria and has witnessed the devastation in the town of Harem in the rebel-held Idlib province, where around 700 houses were destroyed.

More than 24,000 people are now known to have died after Monday's earthquakes in southern Turkey and northern Syria.