All colleagues of UK aid worker in area of Turkey lost homes

Antakya in Turkey is one of many towns and cities to be badly affected

A British aid worker says he has never experienced "this level of suffering, death and destruction" following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Atiqur Rahman, of Global Relief Trust, based in Birmingham, was in Syria when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit.

He said all of his colleagues in the Turkish city of Antakya had lost their homes, and one of them was killed.

Mr Rahman, from Stoke-on-Trent, said he had experienced earthquakes before, "but nothing like this".

The death toll from Monday's earthquakes has passed 20,000, with the World Health organisation adding a new disaster could be facing the survivors.

Mr Rahman said an HR officer for Global Relief Trust was among the dead.

"We were actually thinking his whole family passed away, but we found two of his sons today," he said.

"But we are still looking for their mother and one of the daughters."

Atiqur Rahman has urged people to donate to the relief effort "for the sake of humanity"

Speaking about his initial experience of the earthquake while he was in Syria, Mr Rahman said when he woke up, "it was like a high-speed train that was going past the building".

"Then I thought, because I was inside Syria, is there an air strike, and immediately waited for the sound of an explosion," he added.

"It wasn't until probably about 10 to 15 seconds into it that I realised this was an earthquake."

The head of development for the Muslim charity said he had "seen so much suffering - children, elderly people, ordinary people, who woke up or didn't wake up because they were crushed to death".

Mr Rahman said he himself lost everything in the earthquake.

"The building got destroyed. I've been wearing wet clothes for the past four days, so I've got them on," he said.

After hearing about the situation in Antakya, Mr Rahman's team drove there

An appeal has been launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), with funds going towards medical aid, shelter, food and clean water, as well as blankets, warm clothes and heaters.

Urging people to donate to those affected, Mr Rahman said: "No-one is saying donate thousands of pounds but donate something - be involved for the sake of humanity.

"These are ordinary people - some of these people have fled their homes, from bombings and war and conflict and that little bit of tranquillity they had has now been ruined even further."

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