Summary

  • 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

  • The UN is warning the final death toll from the quake is likely to be at least double that

  • 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

  • But there are still some astonishing stories of people being pulled alive from the rubble a week after the quake hit

  • Meanwhile the US government has called on Syria's President Assad to let more aid reach people in rebel-held areas of northern Syria

  • The White Helmets emergency group says people there feel disappointed and abandoned

  • Meanwhile, officials in Turkey say 113 arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the construction of buildings that collapsed in Monday's quake

  1. Watch: Giant cracks through fields and roads seen from the airpublished at 12:58 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Drone footage has captured the incredible damage wreaked by the earthquake, which has left more than 35,000 people dead.

    One highway has been reduced to rubble and dust and another road has been split through the middle.

    The footage follows a massive crack now running through the landscape.

    Media caption,

    Turkey: Huge cracks appear on highway after earthquake

  2. Focus turns to recovery and reliefpublished at 12:49 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Lyse Doucet
    Chief International Correspondent in Gaziantep

    There are still astonishing stories of rescue in Turkey.

    A six-year-old boy still alive after 151 hours beneath the rubble, a 32-year-old teacher who asked for tea as soon as she was pulled out.

    But there’s also a sense that this rescue mission will soon end soon.

    The focus is turning to recovery and relief, but also to a reckoning after what Turkey’s president has called the “disaster of the century”.

    The issuing of arrest warrants underlines that shoddy construction also played a role in a staggering death toll.

    Across the border in north-west Syria, where almost no help arrived, residents are accusing the UN and other aid agencies of completely failing them.

  3. Spotlight on humanitarian crossing points into Syriapublished at 12:36 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    A delay in international aid delivery has put a spotlight on routes into northern Syria and which forces control them after nearly 12 years of civil war.

    Aid shipped by air from allies of the Assad government arrived relatively swiftly in government-held territory last week.

    However, there is only one approved route into the rebel-held province of Idlib through the Bab al-Hawa crossing over the Turkish border.

    The UN's Martin Griffiths says the international community has "so far failed" the people of north-west Syria and they "rightly feel abandoned".

    And the US has joined UN calls for President Bashar al-Assad to allow more crossings into rebel-held areas.

    However, vital lifelines like this have to be authorised by the UN Security Council and Russia as well as China have repeatedly used their veto to support the Syrian government, which argues such crossings violate its sovereignty.

    Map showing control of Syria and crossing for aid at Bab al-HawaImage source, .
  4. WATCH: Humanitarian aid is now the priority - UN chiefpublished at 12:18 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Media caption,

    WATCH: The UN's Martin Griffiths says the rescue phase ''is coming to a close''

    The rescue phase in Turkey and Syria is "coming to a close", the United Nations aid chief has told reporters.

    During a visit to Aleppo in northern Syria, Martin Griffiths said urgency was now switching to providing shelter, food, schooling and psychosocial care to those affected my last week's earthquake.

    Griffiths says aid appeals would be issued for Turkey and Syria.

  5. International community must do its job - Syrian activistpublished at 12:00 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Syrian activist Waad al-Kateab has been speaking to our colleagues on the BBC World News channel today, describing the situation in Syria following last week's earthquake.

    She says many are at risk and need the international community "to come and do their job". People feel abandoned by the Syrian government and countries they thought would help, she adds.

    "We are blaming the UN, the Assad regime, who didn't respond at all to our people...," al-Kateab, who co-founded the Syrian aid and advocacy group Action for Sama, says.

    The UN has been criticised by organisations based in north-west Syria over its response to the earthquake. A post we wrote earlier explains why getting aid to Syria has been so complicated.

  6. Death toll approaching 36,000published at 11:52 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    The death toll from last Monday's earthquake in Turkey and Syria has risen to more than 35,000.

    Officials from Turkey's disaster management authority say 31,643 people have died there, while in north-west Syria the figure currently stands at 4,300 according to UN officials.

    It brings the confirmed total of fatalities to 35,943.

  7. Buried alive with my newborn sonpublished at 11:44 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Alice Cuddy
    Reporting from Samandag, Turkey

    Yagiz Camuz
    Image caption,

    Baby Yagiz was in his mother's arms when the earthquake struck

    When Necla Camuz gave birth to her second son on 27 January, she named him Yagiz, meaning "brave one".

    The earthquake struck when they were at home, and the 33-year-old found herself lying down with her baby on her chest, still held in her arms.

    A fallen wardrobe next to her saved their lives by preventing a large slab of concrete from crushing them.

    The pair would remain in this position for almost four days.

    Read more here.

  8. In pictures: Relatives' anxious wait as rescue efforts continuepublished at 11:25 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    A week on from the earthquake, rescue teams in Turkey and Syria are still searching for survivors under collapsed buildings.

    Here's a small selection of pictures from the last couple of days.

    Relatives warm up by a fire among collapsed buildings in KahramanmarasImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Survivors try to keep warm by a fire in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey

    Soldiers march past collapsed buildings in KahramanmarasImage source, EPA
    Image caption,

    Turkish soldiers march next to collapsed buildings in the city

    Relatives wait next to collapsed buildings in KahramanmarasImage source, EPA
    Image caption,

    Relatives wait for news near collapsed buildings

    Rescuers speak to people searching for their relatives in KahramanmarasImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    A rescuer speaks to a woman

    Buildings razed to the ground by the quakeImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    An aerial view of the destruction in the city

  9. Search and rescue operation 'coming to a close' - UNpublished at 11:13 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    A rescue team search for survivors under a collapsed building in Hatay, southern TurkeyImage source, Getty Images

    We reported a little earlier on remarks made by the UN's aid chief about what's next for the rescue operation in Turkey and Syria. We're hearing more from him now.

    Martin Griffiths says the search phase will soon be "coming to a close", allowing officials to focus on providing survivors with the necessary shelter, food, schooling and psychosocial care.

    "The trauma of the people we spoke to was visible and this is a trauma which the world needs to heal," he tells reporters while visiting the government-held north-western Syrian city of Aleppo, which was a major front line in the Syrian civil war.

    Griffiths also says the UN will have aid moving from government-held regions to the rebel-held north-west soon. It's "important that we take care of the people here", he says, adding this is "about the worst" that a lot of Syrians have ever suffered.

  10. Most north-western Syrians lived in poverty before quake - IRC's David Milibandpublished at 11:00 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Let's hear a bit more now from David Miliband, chief executive of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), who's been highlighting some of the pre-existing issues in north-west Syria because of the civil war there.

    Miliband tells the BBC that before the earthquake hit last Monday, "there were 20-25% of kids malnourished in the north-west of Syria". He also says 90% of the region's population were living in poverty, and 2.5 million people there had been displaced from other parts of the country.

    On Sunday, the US called on the UN Security Council to make a resolution to authorise additional cross-border humanitarian access into Syria.

  11. Russia not putting Syria under pressure over aid - Kremlinpublished at 10:40 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    In Moscow, the Kremlin says it's not putting pressure on Syria to allow more aid into its earthquake-hit areas.

    Government spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who was speaking to journalists during a routine conference call, added that Russia and Syria were in "constant contact". He said Russian aid was being provided.

    Asked whether Russia was working to open multiple crossings into the affected area, Peskov said this decision lay with Syria.

    Quote Message

    This depends on the decision of the Syrian Arab Republic. We are working on ways for our specialists – rescue workers and military – to work there and search through the rubble, and deliver aid. All other issues are the prerogative of the legal Syrian authorities.”

    Dmitry Peskov, Russia government spokesman

  12. Supplies for survivors running low - aid workerpublished at 10:15 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    People search through rubble following an earthquake in Adana, TurkeyImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    The aftermath of the earthquake in Adana, Turkey

    We’ve been hearing from Ana Mora Segura, an aid worker from Action Against Hunger who is in the southern Turkish city of Adana.

    Segura says the list of needs is “huge” and supplies such as underwear, tents and blankets are difficult to source.

    “It's really tricky because everyone is trying to gather stuff at the same time.

    "We're running out of underwear, which is something that maybe people don't think about - when you run out of a falling house, you don't get time to get the most basic clothes,” she told BBC Breakfast.

    “Then we still need a lot of tents over here. Thousands and thousands of people everywhere in every neighbourhood in affected cities need a place to stay.”

    She said relief teams were also in need of heaters as survivors were struggling to withstand below zero temperatures.

  13. Miraculous rescues six days after quakepublished at 10:03 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    A child wrapped in foil blankets is rescued from rubbleImage source, EPA
    Image caption,

    Rescuers carry 12-year-old Cudie from the rubble of a collapsed building, in Hatay, southern Turkey, 147 hours after the quake.

    Despite hope fading that many more survivors of the earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria will be found alive in the rubble, some miraculous rescues are still happening.

    Yesterday, rescuers pulled a seven-month-old baby from the rubble of a building in Hatay, southern Turkey, 139 hours after Monday's deadly earthquake.

    Elsewhere in Hatay, a 12-year-old girl, Cudie, was saved after being trapped for 147 hours.

    State media also reported a 13-year-old saved in Gaziantep on Sunday, with rescuers saying: "You are a miracle."

    And a 64-year-old woman was rescued from a collapsed building in Hatay city after 150 hours under the rubble, Reuters reports.

    It reports that her family heard shouting: "Mum, we are here" following the rescue after days of desperate waiting.

    Rescuers carry a woman from a building demolished by the earthquakeImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Rescuers carry 64-year-old survivor Muzeyyen Ofkeli in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Hatay.

  14. Freezing temperatures expected in quake zonepublished at 10:03 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Nick Miller
    BBC Weather

    Earthquake zones in Turkey and Syria are expected to remain cold this week.

    Temperatures will fall below freezing at night in both Gaziantep in Turkey and Aleppo in Syria.

    It will be mainly dry and sunny - although as temperatures warm slightly into next weekend, there could be some wetter weather.

    Graphic showing lows of minus six degrees centigrade
    Image caption,

    Temperatures could plunge as low as minus 6 centigrade overnight

  15. The clock is ticking, says UK rescuerpublished at 09:49 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Members of the UK's International Search & Rescue team at work in Hatay, Turkey,Image source, ISAR / FCDO

    We’re hearing more now about the challenges rescue crews are facing on the ground in Turkey and Syria.

    Nick Searle from the UK International Search and Rescue Team (ISAR) said it had been an “extremely traumatic” week for the group.

    About 77 of the UK ISAR’s trained emergency workers - including firefighters, medics, vets and structural engineers - have been deployed to areas badly impacted by the disaster.

    Searle said tiredness was “starting to kick in” after seven days of working around the clock in freezing conditions to rescue people from under the rubble.

    UK ISAR rescue missions normally last around 10 days and the team is “fully aware the clock is ticking”, Searle said.

    “We’re 10 days self-sufficient, so we don’t impose ourselves on the affected country at all.

    "[The team] know our time out there is coming to an end and they know that people who are trapped there have probably only got a day or two left before we can get to them,” he told BBC Breakfast.

  16. Imperative Syria border crossings are reopened - IRC's David Milibandpublished at 09:20 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Getting aid to victims of Monday’s earthquake in Syria has been a challenge, as only one of the four original border crossings into Syria is currently open.

    David Miliband, chief executive of aid agency the International Rescue Committee (IRC), has told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme why it has been so tricky to get humanitarian aid into Syria.

    “The number of crossing points has been reduced by the Russian veto in the UN Security Council,” he says.

    The crossing points discussed are official UN crossing points for the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization to get aid into Syria and need agreement from the UN Security Council to go ahead.

    Syria control map

    Miliband says that over the past 12 years “the [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad government has consistently failed to deliver what’s called cross-line aid,” which is a type of aid delivered across conflict lines between government areas and rebel-held areas.

    “It’s imperative that the border crossing points that have been closed by the Russian veto over the last few years are reopened,” Miliband adds.

  17. UN warns over fast-moving death tollpublished at 09:13 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    This weekend saw rescue workers in Turkey and Syria continue trying to find as many earthquake survivors as possible. In some cases, like that of Necla Camuz and her baby son, they were successful - in others they weren't.

    On Saturday, with the death toll at 28,000, the UN's aid chief Martin Griffiths said he expected the figure to "double or more".

    As of this morning, more than 33,000 people have been confirmed dead. It'll likely be more by the end of the day.

    Griffiths said during a visit to Aleppo in northern Syria on Monday that the rescue phase would soon be "coming to a close", with officials turning their attention to providing survivors with shelter, food, schooling and healthcare.

    Stay with us for the latest developments.

  18. Welcomepublished at 09:08 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February 2023

    Hello and thanks for joining us as we restart our live coverage of the search and rescue operation in Turkey and Syria.

    It's been a week since a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit south-eastern Turkey and neighbouring Syria, causing massive devastation across the region.

    More than 33,000 people are now confirmed dead, but the UN’s aid chief has warned that the figure could rise further.

    Assessing the damage on Saturday, when the toll stood at 28,000, Martin Griffiths described the quake as the region's worst disaster in 100 years - and predicted that the number of people killed could double.

    The situation in north-west Syria is especially complicated, with officials calling for more aid to be allowed into rebel-held areas of the country.

    Stay with us for the latest developments from our correspondents on the ground.