UN says rescue phase after earthquake is 'coming to a close'

1. A week after the devastating earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, the number of people confirmed to have died has risen to more than 35,000
2. The UN is warning the final death toll from the quake is likely to be at least double that
3. It says the rescue phase of its operations in Turkey and Syria is "coming to a close", with the focus switching to caring for survivors
4. But there are still some astonishing stories of people being pulled alive from the rubble a week after the quake hit
5. Meanwhile the US government has called on Syria's President Assad to let more aid reach people in rebel-held areas of northern Syria
6. The White Helmets emergency group says people there feel disappointed and abandoned
7. Meanwhile, officials in Turkey say 113 arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the construction of buildings that collapsed in Monday's quake

Bye for now

We're pausing our live coverage of the situation in Turkey and Syria, thank you for joining us.

This page was written by Sam Hancock, Malu Cursino, Aoife Walsh, Jennifer McKiernan and André Rhoden-Paul.

It was edited by Alexandra Fouché, James Harness, Jasmine Taylor-Coleman and Jamie Whitehead.

• Head here for the latest news, including reports from our correspondents on the ground

What's happened today?

Getty Images

Before we go, here's a quick look at what's been happening in Turkey and Syria today:

The UN... says the search and rescue phase of this operation is "coming to a close" as officials turn their attention to providing survivors with shelter, food and healthcare.

Deaths have surpassed... 35,000, with authorities warning the figure is likely to keep rising.

Some Syrians are angry... with the international community over the lack of aid being sent to the country. Getting aid to victims of Monday’s earthquake in Syria has been a challenge, as only one of the four original border crossings into the country is currently open.

Supplies are... running low in both countries. An aid worker, currently in the southern Turkish city of Adana, says the list of needs is “huge” and supplies such as underwear, tents and blankets are difficult to source.

It's cold... in Turkey and Syria, posing a challenge for relief workers and survivors made homeless by the quake. For now, rescue workers continue to try to find as many survivors as possible.

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In pictures: Turkey's oldest mosque destroyed by earthquake

Jennifer McKiernan

Live reporter

Getty Images

The Habib-i Neccar mosque lies in ruins

Fourteen centuries of history lie ravaged under the smashed dome of the ancient Habib-i Neccar mosque.

Only the walls of the building have survived, built in AD 638 as the first mosque within modern-day Turkey's borders, in Antakya, known to the Ancient Greeks as Antioch.

"A bit of the Prophet Mohammed's beard was once preserved in a box" here, said 50-year-old Havva Pamukcu, adding: "I'm heartbroken".

Alamy

The rubble of the mosque dome

Getty Images

How the mosque looked before the earthquake

UN Security Council to discuss border crossings into Syria

The UN Security Council is due to meet in New York at 15:00 (20:00 GMT), following growing calls for additional border crossings to get humanitarian aid into Syria.

The meeting comes a day after the UN ambassador to the US, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said she'd heard calls from UN leadership that the Security Council needs to authorise two additional crossings to help deliver life-saving aid to people in north-west Syria.

The Bab al-Hawa crossing over the Turkish border is currently the only approved route into north-western Syria.

"We cannot let them down," Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement, "we must vote immediately on a resolution to heed the UN’s call for authorisation of additional border crossings for the delivery of humanitarian assistance."

Following last week's deadly earthquake, more pressure has been placed both on the Syrian government and the United Nations to get aid into the region.

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In Antakya, families cling on for news of loved ones

Hanan Razek

BBC Arabic, reporting from Antakya, southern Turkey

Hamza, a Syrian man, waits desperately in front of his family house in Antakya to hear any updates about his father and three siblings who are still under the rubble.

He’s told me that the first day after the deadly earthquake, he could hear and speak to his family.

BBC

On the second day, Hamza heard some sighs and on the third, he could hear someone scratching on the wall.

But on the days that followed there was only silence.

The rescue team only reached the building Hamza's family lived in seven days after the earthquake that's now killed over 35,000.

BBC

Next to Hamza were two grandparents desperately trying to hang on to hope.

BBC

They told me that their six-year-old grandson, Recep Alp, was under the rubble.

They feel angry the rescue hasn’t started yet despite their cries to the rescue teams in the city. They were told the building needed special equipment, but that hasn't got there yet.

On the first day, they could speak to Recep Alp who thought that this was a drill – three months ago Turkey conducted a drill in schools - and he kept saying: “Grandma, is the drill over? Can you please come and pick me up?” before he went silent.

As we walked around the city, we felt a tremor shaking the ground beneath us - another aftershock.

One of more than 2,400 that haven't stopped since last Monday.

‘My mother’s body saved me’

BBC

Survivor Dilek Eger speaking to the BBC after her rescue

“Only the top of my head was above the rubble, but the rest of my body was underneath,” says survivor Dilek Eger, who was pulled from the wreckage of her apartment building after eight hours by a friend.

She lived on the third floor of a 10-storey block in Iskenderun, southern Turkey. It was built in 2022. When it collapsed, she and her family were trapped in the rubble.

My mum breathed her last while she was in my arms. Her body saved me because she was above me. My head was below her so I could breathe.”

Dilek EgerEarthquake survivor

Dilek’s father and brother also died.

Watch more on BBC Panorama - including a closer look at building regulations in Turkey - on Aftershock: The Turkey-Syria Earthquake on BBC One in the UK at 20:00 and afterwards on BBC iPlayer

Are Western sanctions really hindering aid to Syria?

Laura Gozzi

Live reporter

In the aftermath of the quake, Syrian officials blamed difficulties in rescue efforts on the impact of Western sanctions imposed on the country, which has been in a state of civil war for nearly 12 years.

The message has reverberated through other countries that are under US sanctions - such as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua - all of which pushed claims that Western sanctions on Syria have hindered the arrival of relief aid.

But are the claims legitimate? Somewhat - but mostly not, say experts.

They agree that there are so many obstacles to aid reaching certain parts of Syria that Western sanctions are among the least significant.

Destroyed or badly damaged infrastructure is seriously hindering deliveries of aid to north-western Syria - as is the fact that many nearby airports in Turkey are shut because of earthquake damage.

But the actions of President Bashar al-Assad's Syrian government are also important.

There are a whole lot of impediments - top of the list is the impact of years of war and the Assad regime’s mismanagement and refusal to engage with all areas of the country."

Delaney SimonInternational Crisis Group

Certain humanitarian exceptions were adopted months ago to allow aid to flow into Syria, Simon said, and on Thursday the US Treasury announced that transactions related to earthquake relief would be exempted from its Syria sanctions for 180 days.

But as you can see from our reporting on this page - the challenges, both practical and political, are enormous.

Nearly £66m raised in UK for Turkey-Syria quake survivors

DEC

An ambulance awaits injured survivors near the rubble of a destroyed building in north-west Syria

Donations to the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal have now reached over £65m.

The appeal, launched on Thursday, includes £5m matched by the UK government.

DEC charities are helping to distribute hot meals, emergency tents and winter kits, as well as supporting hospitals and other health care services.

Madara Hettiarachchi, DEC director of programmes and accountability, said: "DEC charities are used to working in fragile contexts such as this and while the needs are huge, donations from the UK public are getting through and making a huge difference to people in desperate need in north-west Syria."

How long can a person survive under the rubble?

Aoife Walsh

BBC News Live reporter

EPA

Despite the earthquake striking more than a week ago, survivors are still being found - how is survival in these conditions possible?

Prof Tony Redmond, an emergency medicine specialist and founder of medical aid charity UK-Med, said there were three critical factors:

• space to breathe
• access to food and water
• the extent of any injuries suffered

If someone was mostly uninjured and could breathe in an air pocket, survival would depend on access to water. Even if they didn't have it, their level of health and how hydrated they were when the quake struck could be decisive.

"Sometimes I've seen people who've been trapped in buildings that have been able to get access to leaking pipes and some water to keep them going," he said.

"But I can see now why the UN says, given that we're a week on, why the rescue phase would be drawing to a close."

Prof Redmond said the freezing conditions in Turkey and Syria could be a "double-edged sword".

"If you are very cold, you tend to vasoconstrict - the blood vessels shut down and you may last a little longer from your injuries," he said.

"But of course, if you get too cold, then that in itself is harmful."

WATCH: Young girl saved after 178 hours under rubble

Phelan Chatterjee

BBC News

Video shows young girl and woman rescued week after quake

As we've been reporting, it's been a week since the earthquake, but people are still being pulled out of the rubble.

Miray, a young girl, has been rescued from under a collapsed building in Adiyaman, southern Turkey, after a staggering seven and a half days.

Emergency workers told local media they were hoping to find her older sister too.

Read more on Miray's rescue here.

Turkey won't allow new Syrian refugee influx

Turkey will not allow a new wave of refugees from Syria following the earthquake, its foreign minister has said.

Mevlut Cavusoglu in a news conference, reported by Reuters news agency, said: "Claims that there is a new influx of refugees from Syria to Turkey (after the earthquake) are not true.

"We will not allow that; it is out of question."

Cavusoglu also said Turkey is ready to open two new aid crossings to Syria from the Kilis province. Currently humanitarian aid is being delivered through to the Bab al Hawa border crossing.

He added: "We are facilitating humanitarian aid for Syrians, but we are not allowing a new Syrian refugee influx. These are two separate issues."

Germany could provide shelter to some victims

People affected by the earthquake could be offered shelter in Germany, with its large Turkish and Syrian communities, but only if they can meet existing visa requirements, it's foreign ministry has said.

According to the Reuters news agency, a ministry spokesperson told reporters at a news conference: "Missing passports are of course a problem.

"Those who have lost everything are unlikely to have a passport, but we cannot simply undermine the passport sovereignty of the Turkish authorities and issue travel documents for foreigners just like that."

Germany's interior minister Nancy Faeser told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper she wants to allow earthquake victims entry to Germany "with regular visas that are swiftly issued and valid for three months".

Turkish people with passports under rubble are advised to contact the German embassy in Ankara if they want to stay with relatives in Germany, who must take responsibility for them.

But for Syrians, it will be more difficult with their country having no diplomatic ties with Germany - meaning people must travel to German embassies in neighbouring countries for visa requests.

Germany has around 2.3 million people of Turkish origin - believed to be largest Turkish diaspora in the world.

Thousands of Syrians also came to Germany, when it opened its borders to refugees in 2015.

UN 'reassured' by Syrian government support

EVN

UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen is "pleased" about reassurances of support from the Syrian government

The UN Special Envoy for Syria says he's pleased with "reassurances" that the government will support the UN's work "all over" Syria.

Geir Pedersen was speaking to reporters after talks with the Syrian Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, in Damascus.

"We all know, there has been a particular challenge immediately after the earthquake struck, to get support into the north west," he said.

"We think that is now being corrected, but of course it can't really fix all the troubles we had at the very beginning.

"But now support is coming in."

The challenge of reporting from Syria

Reuters

A White Helmet volunteer stands among rubble in Harem, Syria

Much of the reporting about the impact of Monday’s earthquakes has been coming from Turkey – but we’re working to bring you as much information as we can from Syria as well.

Monday’s tremors occurred close to Turkey’s border with Syria, and there have been at least 3,000 deaths there from the quakes.

Even before they hit, residents were relying on assistance to survive, due to the civil war that has been ongoing since 2011.

That civil war also explains the challenges of getting reliable information out of Syria.

Northern Syria in particular is deeply fragmented when it comes to which groups control which areas.

The regime of President Bashar al-Assad controls much of the country, but the picture gets more convoluted the closer you get to the Turkish border, with various rebel groups, Kurdish-led forces and jihadist groups each controlling different pockets.

To add to the challenge, even within rebel-held territory, jihadist groups also run their own media operations.

Each of these groups have different approaches in how they provide information.

Throughout the course of the war, it has only been possible to collect information on developments by piecing together reports from rival outlets, each focussing on particular areas - and many pursuing their own editorial agenda.

On top of this, the volatile nature of the conflict, and the varied areas of control, also makes it difficult for journalists to travel about freely and safely - something that is generally possible in Turkey.

BBC Visual Journalism

The earthquake affected region's borders in Syria and Turkey

Why are some parts of Syria so hard to reach?

Laura Gozzi

BBC News Live reporter

During the last 12 years of war, Syria's territory has become fragmented, and many parts have long been hard to reach by international aid organisations.

In the first few days after the quake, some supplies reached the government-controlled areas of Syria, primarily from friendly countries like Russia, Iran and the UAE.

But the north-western rebel-controlled areas of Syria remain virtually cut off.

This is because international humanitarian aid to these parts can only arrive through a single crossing from Turkey or through the government-controlled areas of Syria.

The latter is not currently an option, as western countries that have all but severed ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are reluctant to send aid through the Syrian government.

And although this week, the US announced an emergency relief package of $85m (£70m) to both Turkey and Syria, the Syrian government is still resisting pressure to open the rebel-controlled areas to international teams.

As for the Turkey border crossing, it was closed for 72 hours after the earthquake.

Even now it has reopened, the flow of aid is very limited - the roads leading to it have been severely damaged and, in any case, many airports in southern Turkey remain shut, making it difficult to deliver large supplies.

It’s worth remembering that this section of Syria has already been devastated by years of war, which has seen Syrian government and allied Russian bombardment target infrastructure including hospitals.

This is what experts are referring to when they say that the quake has caused “a crisis on top of multiple crises”.

In pictures: A camp is set up for those who've lost their homes in the quake

Overseas soldiers have been helping provide food and shelter for displaced people in Iskenderun, Turkey. Here team there sent us these photos.

BBC

Foreign military forces are helping to build temporary shelters

BBC

Overseas soldiers carry aid

BBC

People collect bread and food donations

BBC

A man carries a mattress through rows of tents in the camp

Son's joy as mother pulled from rubble

Reuters

Saadet Sendag was rescued today, a week on from the earthquake

Amid the devastation caused by this earthquake, there have been some moments of joy as family members are reunited.

That was certainly the case today when Saadet Sendag was rescued, having been trapped under a collapsed building in the city of Hatay for a little more than a week.

Images show her son, whose name we don't know, overcome with emotion as his mother is pulled from the rubble and carried away on a stretcher.

Reuters

She was lifted out of the rubble and put on a stretcher

How much UK aid is going to Syria?

DEC

Red Crescent workers are providing hot meals for people

The Disasters Emergency Committee has highlighted its work in north-east Syria, an area of active conflict where more than three million people didn't have enough to eat before the earthquake.

More than 50 aid trucks from five UN agencies are now in the area around Idlib province to help deliver aid.

Working with partners, Save the Children has provided 7,500 people with ready to eat meals, 500 people with blankets, and 300 people with tents.

The charity has also provided food to 200 search and rescue teams and fuel to two hospitals.

'I've buried my two children'

Quentin Sommerville

Reporting from northern Syria

BBC

Abu Ala' has buried his teenage daughter and son

Let's hear from a Syrian man now whose life has been forever changed by the earthquake. A warning that this post features some distressing details.

Abu Ala's family was sleeping when the quake hit - it swallowed up his home and claimed the lives of two of his children.

The body of his 15-year-old daughter Wala' was recovered and buried first, he tells me.

He breaks down when describing the search for his missing 13-year-old son, Ala'. "We kept digging until evening the next day. May God give strength to those men," he says. "They went through hell to dig my boy up."

He buried his children next to each other.

• No tents, no aid, nothing: Why Syrians feel forgotten

What's the latest?

It's been a week since the catastrophic earthquake shook Turkey and Syria. Rescue crews are beginning to wind down the search for survivors beneath the rubble, as the death toll surpasses 35,000.

Here are the latest developments:

Aid for Syria: The UN's aid chief Martin Griffiths said the international community has so far failed victims in north-west Syria. Our explainer details why it's difficult to get aid into rebel-held areas

Next phase: Rescue missions in Turkey and Syria will soon come to a close, with officials turning their attention to shelter, food and healthcare, the UN says

Death toll: On Saturday, when the death toll was at 28,000, Griffiths warned the figure could "double or more"

Miracle rescues: On Sunday, a seven-month-old baby was pulled from the rubble of a building in Hatay, southern Turkey, 139 hours after Monday's deadly earthquake

Tough conditions: But temperatures in Turkey and Syria are expected to remain cold this week, posing a challenge for relief workers and survivors made homeless by the quake