Survivors found five days after quake as death toll passes 25,000
Updates from BBC correspondents on the ground: Assaf Abboud in Aleppo, Nick Beake in Gaziantep, Quentin Sommerville in Syria, Lyse Doucet in Osmaniye, Tom Bateman in Adana, and Alice Cuddy in Iskenderun
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WATCH: 'I still believe he's alive' - Ghana footballer's partner
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Claire Rupio - the partner of the Ghanian footballer Christian Atsu who is missing in Turkey - tells the BBC she still believes he's alive.
Atsu plays for Hatayspor in southern Turkey. A day after the earthquake the club's vice-president Mustafa Özat said the player had been rescued, but later that was proved not to be the case.
Read more here.
Syrian meeting called for at Security Council
Switzerland and Brazil have called for the UN Security Council to meet early next week to discuss the situation in Syria.
They plan to hear from UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths, who will visit Turkey and Syria in the coming days.
Brazil’s UN ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho said Griffiths will conduct an evaluation of the situation, "where the bottlenecks for the delivery of aid exist, and in how best members the country can address that".
Switzerland’s Pascale Baeriswyl urged "all parties to facilitate access for relief efforts and allow for the assistance to reach all those in need".
Both countries lead negotiations and draft resolutions on Syrian humanitarian affairs in the council.
Grieving families bury loved ones swiftly in mass graves
Nick Beake
Reporting from Pazarcik, southern Turkey
While we were driving through the epicentre town of Pazarcik in southern Turkey, we spotted dozens of people in a field framed by snow-topped mountainside. As we drew nearer, we saw dozens of freshly dug graves - each surrounded by a mound of churned-up earth.
First, the men crouched down in silence as an imam shifted deftly between the wooden crosses saying a quick prayer for each victim before moving to the next grieving family.
Then, the women filed into this makeshift cemetery which, this time last week, was a desolate waste ground. The sound of crying carried across the fields. Tugba Kelpakla told us she had just buried her nephew Ayhan and her aunt Zebo. So many people have similar stories of lost loved ones.
As soon as the swift ceremony was over, a yellow digger rolled onto the ground. They’ve already made more than 100 new graves and we counted that 28 of them had now been filled. The rest will soon be too.
As we were leaving, some mourners explained that they’d received calls from a family in the most remote mountain areas who told them many more were dead. But these bodies lay uncollected - and unburied - because their communities are cut off by snow.
Earthquake explained: Fault lines mapped from space
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
It seems almost insensitive to start to have a deep dive into the science behind Monday's earthquake events in Turkey and Syria.
More than 20,000 people are already confirmed dead and an unknown number still lie trapped, with the window for their rescue closing rapidly.
And yet the science will go on. The insights gleaned from this event will save lives in the future.
Take a look at the map on this page. It is the most precisely produced yet of how the ground lurched in response to the enormous energies that were unleashed.
The data behind it was acquired in the early hours of Friday by the European Union's Sentinel-1A satellite as it traversed north to south over Turkey at an altitude of 700km (435 miles).
The Sentinel carries a radar instrument that is able to sense the ground in all weather - day and night.
It is routinely scanning this earthquake-prone region of the world, tracing the often very subtle changes in elevation at the Earth's surface.
Except, of course, the changes on Monday were not subtle at all; they were dramatic. The ground bent, buckled and in places ripped apart.
You can read the full analysis here.
What's the latest?
Five days after earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria, rescuers are still sifting through the rubble looking for survivors - but hopes are dwindling.
Here are some of the key developments from today:
5.3 million people in Syria may have been made homeless - UN
As many as 5.3 million people in Syria may have been left homeless by Monday's earthquake, the UN's refugee agency says.
Speaking from Damascus to a press briefing in Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) representative for Syria, Sivanka Dhanapala, said the preliminary estimate was for all people affected by the quake needing shelter assistance across the whole of Syria.
"That is a huge number and comes to a population already suffering mass displacement," he said.
Dhanapala said the UN agency has been focusing on distributing shelters by "ensuring that collective centers that displaced have gone to have adequate facilities, as well as tents, plastic sheeting, thermal blankets, sleeping mats, winter clothing and so on."
Speaking about north-western Syria, which is partly controlled by rebel forces, Dhanapala said getting aid to that area in particular has proved very difficult.
UN 'cautiously optimistic' of improved access in Syria
The head of the UN’s World Food Programme in Syria has told the BBC he is "cautiously optimistic" that more border crossings could be used to get crucial humanitarian assistance into the north of the country from Turkey.
Kenn Crossley, country director and representative for WFP in Syria, says that currently only one border crossing is being used to send aid into north-west Syria, on which the road has been damaged.
"We do have to negotiate other border openings," he says. "If we can get access and permission to go through those other borders, that alleviates some of the pressure on the damaged road."
He says he is "cautiously optimistic" that progress is being made, and it is crucial for that permission to be given urgently.
"We’re definitely mindful that all the people we are negotiating with are themselves dealing with the impact of the earthquake," he says, adding that it’s important to "keep pushing on all parties" to get the access needed.
"Regardless of geography, regardless of their political affiliation, because this is humanitarian. These are universal issues, human needs, basic suffering and we need to address them apolitically," he says.
WATCH: BBC's Assaf Abboud reports from Aleppo
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The BBC's Assaf Abboud is one of the first international journalists to reach the Syrian city of Aleppo.
He says 400 people have died there, a city that still carries the wounds of over a decade of civil war.
Quake death toll in Turkey and Syria exceeds 23,000
The death toll in Turkey following Monday's earthquakes has climbed to 19,875, the country's disaster management authority said.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that more than 77,700 people had been injured in the disaster.
The total number of fatalities in Syria stands at 3,377, meaning the combined number of deaths is more than 23,000.
Syria says it will allow aid into rebel-held areas
Lyse Doucet
Reporting from Gaziantep
Syria's seismic shock hasn’t broken the entrenched enmities and obstacles which have always obstructed urgent humanitarian action in a country ravaged by war.
But five days after a deadly earthquake struck, there’s a small crack which may widen the spaces for urgent humanitarian action.
State media today reported that the Syrian cabinet has given the go-ahead for the delivery of humanitarian aid to all parts of the country, including from areas controlled by the state to areas outside of state control.
"It’s a good step forward but many more are needed," the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths told the BBC.
The news is being treated cautiously.
"This refers to cross-line and not cross-border," Griffiths clarified. "We are also urgently seeking approval for additional crossing points to meet the lifesaving needs of the people."
At present, there is only one approved route into the north-western Syrian province of Idlib, the last rebel-held enclave, through the Bab al-Hawa crossing over the Turkish border.
Vital lifelines like this have to be authorised by the UN Security Council. Russia as well as China have repeatedly used their veto to support the Syrian government’s rock hard rule that mechanisms like this violate its sovereignty.
Who is in control of northern Syria?
Parts of north-west Syria, which has been in a state of civil war for over a decade, are controlled by rival factions.
Rebel forces control significant parts of the area devastated by the earthquake, which has made getting aid there very difficult as there is only one sanctioned border crossing to the area from neighbouring Turkey.
Our BBC journalist, Assaf Abboud, has been reporting from the government-controlled city of Aleppo.
Due to the political situation, getting information on what's happening in rebel-held areas is difficult.
'Earlier delivery of aid would have saved hundreds of lives'
A member of the Syrian civil defence organisation the White Helmets - which operates in rebel-held parts of the country - says the lack of international aid has meant hundreds of lives have been lost that could have been saved.
Speaking to the BBC, Ammar al Salmo, who is a volunteer in the rebel-controlled part of Aleppo province, says they are now "too late" to rescue anyone trapped under the rubble.
He says:
He says the situation would have been different had they received specialist rescue equipment in the first three days.
"We [are] left around to deal with this disaster like we are in the dark age," he says, adding that at least one volunteer lost his fingernails trying to search for survivors in rubble.
He says that five days after the disaster, the situation is "so dire and we need everything right now" and appealed to the UN to do more.
The UN's Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, El-Mostafa Benlamlih, has said criticism aimed at the UN was unfair, pointing to the fact that Syria "is not a normal country where you have all the means you need". It has a "complex geographical situation and complex security situation", he said.
Nato says it will send shelters to Turkey
Elsewhere, Nato allies have agreed to deploy semi-permanent shelter facilities to Turkey help people displaced by Monday's earthquake.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the decision, stating: “Nato stands in strong solidarity with our ally Turkey, and the deployment of these shelter facilities will help to save lives.
"Nato allies and partners are providing substantial support to the relief efforts, and we will continue to do all we can to assist those in need."
The statement said the shelters to be supplied are equipped with a number of amenities including heating, power generators, and medical treatment areas.
It adds that thousands of emergency response personnel from more than 20 Nato allies and 30 countries are now engaged in relief efforts.
Secondary disaster in Syria is now imminent - David Miliband
David Miliband, CEO of the International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian NGO, says a secondary disaster in Syria "is now imminent" as a result of "a complete lack of infrastructure to help support people".
He tells the BBC:
He explains that while the first disaster was the actual earthquake on Monday, the second disaster will stem from a failure to treat the wounded and the threat to the health of the living who have survived the earthquake.
He says an action plan needs to be implemented, starting with the very basics. He explains that firstly, the sole border crossing from Turkey into north-west Syria needs to be expanded.
Secondly, another closed crossing needs to be reopened. And thirdly, cash support as well as convoys of medical, hygiene and shelter supplies need to be scaled up.
Syria approves aid delivery across front lines - state media
Syrian state media say the government has now given permission for international aid destined to earthquake victims to be sent into rebel-held territory across government lines, Reuters news agency reports.
They said aid distribution would be supervised by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent with UN help.
If it goes ahead, the move would be a highly welcome step for those living in areas under the control of rebel groups in northern Syria, who have so far only received limited assistance in the form of UN aid trucks that have travelled across the border with Turkey.
Meanwhile, the UN’s human rights office has called for an immediate ceasefire to be reached in Syria in the wake of the earthquake.
Inside Aleppo: How the BBC got there
Assaf Abboud
BBC Arabic, in Aleppo
Our BBC team travelled by road from the Syrian capital, Damascus, to Aleppo.
It’s a journey of around 224 miles (360km), passing through many government checkpoints where soldiers were checking everyone's IDs.
We are travelling to earthquake-hit areas with the Syrian government's permission.
We also saw dozens of lorries and vehicles carrying humanitarian and medical aid on our way in.
Entering the city of Aleppo, you might not realise an earthquake had hit the city because the new buildings at the entrance don't look damaged.
But as we went further into the city, it was hard to distinguish between what was caused by the more than decade long civil war and what was caused by the earthquake.
The sound of bulldozers lifting rubble from buildings rings throughout the city. Officials say the number of damaged buildings is much greater than the number of those which have collapsed.
The districts of al-Shaar, al-Salihin and Bustan al-Qasr were the worst hit by the quake, forcing thousands of its residents into shelters.
WATCH: Scenes you can't even imagine - Syrian medical chief
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The head of the Syrian American Medical Society says the situation in northern Syria following the earthquake is a "tragedy after the tragedy of the last 10 years".
Dr Amjad Rass says the 12 hospitals and health centres he oversees lost some of their medical staff in the quake and many that remain have lost their own family members.
Speaking to the BBC this morning, he tells the story of one of his hospital directors whose family were based in Turkey.
His colleague had to retrieve the bodies of his wife and son and drive back to Syria with his surviving daughters, nine and 11, all in the same car.
UN defends humanitarian response in Syria
The UN has defended its response in providing aid to Syria after facing criticism over its delivery.
Earlier today, the White Helmets - a humanitarian group working in north-west Syria - accused the UN of "badly" handling its response in the war-torn country.
Speaking to the BBC World Service's Newshour programme, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Syria said comments made about the organisation's response were "not fair".
"This is not a normal country where you have all the means you need - it's a complex geographical situation and complex security situation," El-Mostafa Benlamlih tells the BBC.
"Getting into the north-west isn't just a matter of getting into your car and driving.
"Lack of fuel is another impediment. The people here have been working extremely hard, around the clock."
Death toll in Turkey and Syria approaches 23,000
The death toll in Turkey following Monday's earthquake has risen to 19,388, according to the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The number of reported deaths in neighbouring Syria stands at 3,377, meaning the combined number of fatalities has reached almost 23,000.
Erdogan added that more than 77,700 people had been injured in Turkey and said the government would provide rent support for survivors of the quakes.
Earlier, he said the government's response to the earthquake has not been as fast as he had hoped.
Inside Aleppo: BBC team reveals scale of quake destruction
Assaf Abboud
BBC Arabic, in Aleppo
I'm here in the al-Shaar neighbourhood of the city of Aleppo, in north-western Syria.
I'm in the eastern part of the city closest to the Turkish border and one of the first international journalists to report from Aleppo.
Against the backdrop of multi-storey buildings flattened to the ground, rescue efforts are under way for the hundreds that remain injured and trapped underneath the rubble.
Over 400 people have died here in Aleppo, a city that still carries the wounds of over a decade of civil war.
Some rescue teams beside me are demolishing damaged buildings out of fear they might collapse later on.
The death toll has almost reached 4,000 in both government and rebel-held areas of Syria. More than 7,000 people are injured or unaccounted for.
Reports say more than 60,000 people have lost their homes and are spread across different shelters in the city.