Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria: Death toll soars past 7,000 as rescuers scour the rubble

Getting aid to devastated parts of Syria damaged by Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake will be a major effort, with the situation complicated by large numbers of people displaced by war, the director of Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday.

“This is going to be a major, major lift for the international aid community,” Avril Benoît said on MSNBC.

At least 2,150 of the more than 7,000 people killed by the earthquakes were in Syria, which has suffered more than a decade of civil war. United Nations officials said that even before the earthquakes, nearly 70% of the population needed humanitarian assistance.

Millions have been displaced and are living outside, which raises the chance of infection, and the hospital system needs to be rebuilt, Benoît said.

“Already, we are concerned that it will be in the news today and forgotten in a short number of days,” Benoît said.

"These are not quick recoveries, and we know from all our experience of being on the ground that the management of the medical needs will be quite important,” she said.

Residents of many different countries are likely to be among those affected by the devastating earthquakes that have killed thousands of people in Turkey and Syria, a State Department official said Tuesday.

No Americans are confirmed to have been killed, but State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that could change as more becomes known.

“I think we’re all realistic,” Price said. “We’re all very sober about the implications of this and the fact that many countries, many nationalities are likely to be implicated, just given the massive toll and destruction.”

U.S. consular officials have been in touch with the American citizen community in the region.

More than 7,000 people in Turkey and Syria have been killed, officials in the two countries have said, and the number could grow.

The United Nations’ office of humanitarian affairs released $25 million Tuesday in what it said was an effort to help “kick start” the response in the wake of powerful earthquakes that have killed thousands in Turkey and Syria.

The money is being released as more than 7,000 people have been confirmed dead in the two countries after Monday’s early-morning 7.8-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter in Turkey, followed by a 7.5-magnitude aftershock.

“As the people in the region deal with the devastating consequences of this tragedy, we want to tell them that they are not alone,” Martin Griffiths, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said in a statement.

Other countries have also pledged aid, including $10 million by Australia. Countries around the world have sent rescue teams.

In Syria, where at least 2,150 people have died, according to officials and aid groups, the situation was already dire after more than a decade of civil war.

Nearly 70% of the population needed humanitarian assistance before the earthquakes, U.N. humanitarian coordinators for Syria and the Syrian crisis said in a joint statement.

Satellite photos taken Tuesday of areas in southwest Turkey appear to show the level of damage the earthquakes inflicted.

The photos, collected by Maxar Technologies, are compared against images of the same area from October.

"While clouds and poor weather continue to affect some of the area, our images today of the Turkish cities of Islahiye, Nurdagi and Duzici reveal significant damage to many buildings and infrastructure," Maxar said in a statement.

The company said it will continue to monitor the region for more information and images.

King Charles said Tuesday that he and his wife, Camilla, are "profoundly saddened" by the devastation.

"I can only begin to imagine the scale of suffering and loss as a result of these dreadful tragedies and I particularly wanted to convey our deepest and most heartfelt sympathy to the families of all those who have lost their loved ones," he said in a statement on behalf of both of them.

The monarchy does not control the United Kingdom's governmental response. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken directly with the Turkish president to coordinate support. Sunak confirmed that a search and rescue team of 77 people has been deployed to Turkey to assist in recovery efforts.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had calls Tuesday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Scholz offered condolences to Erdoğan over the tragic circumstances after the quakes, his office said in a release. He also pledged "extensive support" to Erdoğan.

A spokesperson for Sunak said he and Erdoğan spoke about the concerning humanitarian situation. Sunak pledged his "steadfast support" to Turkey and immediate assistance Tuesday.

“The Prime Minister confirmed that a 77-strong British search and rescue team arrived in Gaziantep today with specialist equipment and dogs, in response to a request from the Turkish government, and will immediately start work assisting with the rescue effort," the spokesperson said.

The death toll in Monday’s massive earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria climbed to 7,266 Tuesday, according to officials in both countries.

In Turkey, at least 5,434 people were killed and 22,168 others were injured, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said. About 8,000 people have been rescued from the rubble. 

In Syria, at least 812 people were killed and 1,832 more were injured, the Health Ministry said.

At least 1,020 people have died and 2,400 were injured in Syria’s rebel-held areas, according to the White Helmets.

A newborn was rescued in Syria after a woman reportedly gave birth and became trapped in rubble following the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

Monday’s quake flattened the family’s home in Aleppo, a cousin told Agence France-Presse.

“We heard a voice while we were digging,” said the cousin, Khalil al-Suwadi. “We cleared the dust and found the baby with the umbilical cord, so we cut it, and my cousin took her to hospital.”

NBC News has not been able to independently verify the information.

The baby’s mother and father, four siblings and an aunt were killed, the cousin said, according to AFP.

Read the full story here.

The death toll has risen to at least 6,376 people.

This includes 4,544 dead in Turkey, where at least 22,168 are injured; 812 dead in Syria, where at least 1,832 are injured; and 1,020 dead in Syria's rebel-held territories, where more than 2,400 are injured.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Turkey have taken refuge in government shelters and private businesses.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Tuesday that an estimated 338,000 people have gone to government shelters or hotels in the earthquake aftermath. People have also gathered at shopping malls, mosques, stadiums and community centers for shelter and basic needs.

Roads used to bring aid across the Turkish border into northern Syria have been damaged badly enough to pause United Nations aid to the region, according to Sanjana Quazi, deputy head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' regional office for the Syrian crisis.

"Hatay province, where the border and the U.N. hub are, is very badly affected," she said. "We are looking at alternative routes."

From a castle in Gaziantep to a citadel in Aleppo, as rescuers search desperately for survivors after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, concerns were also growing Tuesday for some of the region’s most cherished historic sites.

UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, said in a statement that it was carrying out a survey of the affected areas and discovered many of the sites had either been damaged or collapsed completely.

The ancient Syrian city of Aleppo, where towers and walls have survived ancient and modern wars, has been badly affected. The city’s famous Citadel, a World Heritage Site, was damaged; it had only recently been repaired following the fierce street fighting of the battle for Aleppo in 2012, part of the long-running and still ongoing civil war in the country.

In Turkey, UNESCO said several buildings in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır in the country’s southeast had collapsed, raising fears for the Diyarbakır Fortress and the Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape, another World Heritage Site.

Read the full story here.

War-ravaged Ukraine will send an 87-strong search and rescue team to Turkey to “help eliminate the consequences” of the earthquake.

The announcement came in a decree published on the Ukrainian Cabinet office’s website Tuesday.

“Ukrainian specialists have relevant experience in overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and will arrive in the affected regions as soon as possible. They will help with the whole range of work on the recovery from the earthquake,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement.

In a tweet, he said Ukraine was also sending equipment to affected regions in Turkey.

The total number of those killed in the natural disaster has climbed to 5,261, according to updated information provided by both Turkish and Syrian authorities.

The total number of those dead in Syria comes to 1,712, according to the Syrian Health Ministry and the White Helmets. More than 3,700 have been injured in the country.

In Turkey, 3,549 people were killed and 22,168 injured as search and rescue teams continue their work, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday. More than 8,000 people have been rescued so far.

As many as 23 million people, including around 1.4 million children, are likely to have been impacted by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, according to the World Health Organization.

For those who want to help the survivors of the disaster, which has left more than 5,000 people dead, there are several international humanitarian organizations seeking donations to fund their aid efforts.

Read more about how you can help here.

The Palestinian Authority says 57 Palestinian refugees have died in the powerful quake in Turkey and Syria.

Officials said 14 were killed in Turkey and 43 in Syria, which for decades has hosted nearly half a million Palestinians in large refugee camps and remains one of the few Arab states to offer them almost full civil rights.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said several Palestinians are reported missing under collapsed buildings in the hard-hit al-Raml camp in western Syria.

While aid efforts focused on rescuing those trapped under collapsed buildings, those who survived found themselves sheltering in cars, struggling to keep themselves fed, hydrated and warm in the freezing conditions.

“We have been on the streets since two days,” a distraught 31-year-old factory worker, Mesut Demir, told NBC News. 

Demir said he has been staying inside his car with his wife and sons, ages 4 and 6, in the city of Gaziantep, not far from the epicenter of the first earthquake. He said other families in the area were doing the same.

When night falls, the parents let the two children sleep in the car while they take shelter outside and light a bonfire.

“We need tent, blankets, food, water but no one came to help us because the priority was the ones under the rubble," he said.

Emergency workers search for people in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey, on Tuesday.

Thousands of emergency personnel from all over Turkey, as well as additional teams sent from abroad, have been mobilized to aid in the 10 provinces worst hit by the earthquakes, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.

"Our 53,317 car, recovery personnel and support personnel are working in the wreckage area, with additional teams coming from Turkey and abroad," he said in a speech.

"This number is increasing with each passing hour," he said. "Many more public officials, nongovernmental organizations and volunteers are also involved in aid works."

All flags at NATO headquarters are being flown at half-staff Tuesday, the alliance announced.

NATO shared a photo of the scene, saying it was being done "in solidarity with our Ally #Türkiye."

As Turkey reeled from the devastating earthquakes, the country's disaster agency said Tuesday that it sent hundreds of thousands of humanitarian aid items from across the country to the severely affected areas.

This included:

• 300,000 blankets
• 41,504 family living tents
• 101,738 beds
• 148,482 pillow sheets
• 4,602 kitchen sets
• 3,761 heaters

Mesut Hancer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter, Irmak, who died in the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey.

Civilians searched for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings close to the quake’s epicenter, the day after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s southeast, followed by a 7.5-magnitude quake.

Armenia’s foreign minister says his country has offered to help Syria and Turkey in their response to the deadly quake, despite difficult relations between Yerevan and Ankara.

Ararat Mirzoyan told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday that Armenia is prepared to send aid and rescue teams to both countries, but didn’t immediately say whether the offers had been accepted. He recalled that Armenia experienced a devastating earthquake in 1988 and required international assistance at the time.

Greece, which also has strained ties with neighbor Turkey, sent a team of rescuers and aid equipment Monday, and promised to provide more. “I believe I speak for all my colleagues in the Greek Parliament in expressing my deepest sorrow for the many victims of the very powerful earthquakes that have been hitting Turkey since yesterday morning,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Tuesday, addressing lawmakers who clapped when he announced that additional assistance was being prepared.

Pope Francis shared condolences again Tuesday for the victims of the earthquakes, along with a hope that aid from the international community will help the people of Turkey and Syria.

"I continue to pray for those who have lost their lives, as well as the injured, family members, and rescuers," he tweeted. "May our concrete aid sustain them in the midst of this appalling tragedy."

The supply of critical United Nations cross-border aid from Turkey to northwest Syria has been temporarily halted due to logistical issues, the world body said Tuesday.

“Some roads are broken, some are inaccessible. There are logistical issues that need to be worked through,” Madevi Sun-Suon, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told Reuters.

“We don’t have a clear picture of when it will resume,” she said.

Syrian women mourn next to bodies lying on the back of a truck Tuesday in the town of Jandaris, as a search operation continues following a deadly earthquake.

An Israeli response team arrived in Turkey on Tuesday, launching search and rescue operations in the country.

The team consists of almost 150 personnel, who will be aiding in rescue and medical operations, as well as delivery of aid, the Israeli military said in a tweet Monday.

The death toll has risen to at least 5,151, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announcing more deaths in affected areas across Turkey.

At least 3,549 people have now been confirmed dead in the country since Monday's earthquakes, with at least 22,168 injured, he said Tuesday. At least 8,000 have been rescued from the rubble alive, he said in a speech.

In Syria, at least 812 people were dead, with at least 1,449 injured, according to the Ministry of Health. In Syrian rebel-held territories, more than 790 were killed and more than 2,200 injured, according to the White Helmets,  a Syrian civil defense and medical group that operates in opposition-held areas.

A large fire that broke out in a section of a port was raging for a second day in the earthquake-stricken town of Iskenderun, southern Turkey, on Tuesday.

An Iranian aircraft carrying tons of emergency aid arrived in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.

"This plane carries the first batches of humanitarian aid provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran, with 45 tons of humanitarian aid on board," said the Iranian ambassador to Syria, Mahdi Sobhani, according to the state news agency SANA.

The supplies included blankets, tents, medicines, food items and other critical supplies, he said.

Monday morning's earthquake ruptured on a shallow fault line just over 11 miles beneath the Earth’s surface, making it one of the most consequential and damaging earthquakes in recent history. 

Earthquakes can originate at various depths beneath the Earth’s surface — even hundreds of miles deep. Consequences on the surface can depend on how close the shaking is.

“Turkey is extremely earthquake-prone, but this is probably the largest earthquake in Turkey in several hundred years,” said Harold Tobin, the director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network and a professor in the University of Washington department of Earth and space sciences.

Read the full story here.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in the affected areas after quakes that left more than 5,000 dead and thousands more injured.

"We are declaring 10 cities impacted by the earthquake zone," he said in statement Tuesday, adding that the emergency will last for three months.

A woman sits on the rubble as emergency rescue teams search for people under the remains of destroyed buildings on the outskirts of Osmaniye city in southern Turkey, on Tuesday.

A woman and her baby were rescued in the southern Turkish region of Hatay after being stuck for around 29 hours in the rubble of a collapsed building, the state news agency Anadolu reported.

The video posted by the Anadolu Agency showed rescuers pulling out the crying baby followed by the mother. They were then attended to by medics.

Gaziantep, an ancient Turkish city badly damaged by the massive earthquake, was paralyzed Monday by widespread destruction — and by panic, survivors told NBC News.

While rescue teams were pulling the living and the dead from the wreckage, government tourism official Resat Taman was trying to beat back unfounded and rapidly spreading rumors that yet another quake was about to strike, as the city continued to be rocked by aftershocks.

“Everybody says next earthquake is coming and it will be so bad,” Taman said. “And this is really horrifying. Because it is not safe information and everybody is in a panic now because of this stupid information.”

Read the full story here.

People watch as rescue teams search for victims and survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings in the government-held northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday.

Christian Atsu, a Ghanaian national soccer star who was believed to be trapped under the rubble in Turkey, has been pulled out alive, according to Ghana's national soccer federation.

"We’ve received some positive news that Christian Atsu has been successfully rescued from the rubble of the collapsed building and is receiving treatment," it said in a tweet. "Let’s continue to pray for Christian."

Atsu, who formerly played for the English soccer clubs Chelsea, Everton and Newcastle United, now plays for Turkish club Hatayspor. His condition is unknown.

A woman cries during the search for survivors in the rubble of buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on Tuesday.

Hatay, a southern Turkish region a few miles away from the epicenter of the first earthquake, was in complete ruins with snow-covered roads blocking key aid supplies and thousands still stuck in the rubble, a volunteer who was in central Hatay told NBC News.

"God damn it, there are tens of thousands of buildings that haven’t been reached yet," said the 25-year-old university student, Tugay Khraman. "The city is flat, there is no solid building,” he said.

Volunteers from across the country like Khraman, who traveled from western Turkey on Monday, were distributing food supplies, and aiding in search and rescue operations. But even those who survived were far from safe, he said, as there was no electricity or water supply.

"People who survived the earthquake will also die from hypothermia," he added.

With many homes destroyed in the earthquakes, families will be displaced and exposed to the elements at a time of the year when temperatures regularly drop below freezing and snow and freezing rain are common, UNICEF has warned.

It warned that schools, hospitals and other educational and medical facilities are likely to have been damaged or destroyed by the quakes, further impacting children. "Potential damage to roads and critical infrastructure will also complicate search and rescue efforts and the wider humanitarian response," it said.

“The images we’re seeing out of Syria and Türkiye are heart-wrenching,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said. “That the initial earthquake happened so early in the morning, when many children were fast asleep, made it even more dangerous, and the aftershocks bring continuing risks."

The bodies of four children from one Syrian family lie wrapped in sheets Monday in the town of Jandaris, following a deadly earthquake.

Japanese and South Korean leaders expressed their condolences to Turkey, drawing historical links to tragedies in their own nations.

"Like Turkey, Japan has also experienced serious damage from earthquakes many times, and in past disasters as well, Japan and Turkey have provided support for each other," Prime Minister Kishida Fumio told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, according to a statement.

"We stand ready to assist Turkiye, a brotherhood forged in blood during the Korean War, in any way possible.” South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol wrote on Twitter.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Turkey's capital, Ankara, on Wednesday, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said Tuesday on Twitter.

"24 hours after the devastating earthquake hit Turkiye & Syria, scenes of death & destruction are mind numbing," Sharif said in a separate tweet Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the South Asian country also sent dozens of disaster relief personnel and aid equipment which arrived in Turkey on Tuesday, the Pakistani air force said in a tweet.

Rescue workers carry a woman out of the debris of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, on Tuesday.

In Syria, members of the White Helmets are struggling to cope with the sheer scale of the disaster, the organization said in a statement Tuesday.

"Great efforts are being made by our teams, but they are unable to respond to the full scale of the disaster. Hundreds remain trapped under the rubble," the team of search and rescue responders officially known as Syria Civil Defence said in a statement.

In a separate statement, it said that more than 200 buildings had been completely destroyed, with tens of thousands cracked.

Some 23 million people, including 1.4 million children, across Turkey and Syria were likely affected by Monday's earthquake and its aftershocks, according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO said it was dispatching emergency supplies, including trauma and emergency surgical kits, to the region as it activated a network of emergency medical teams.

“It’s now a race against time,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes."

Members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department prepare for deployment in Pacoima, California, on Monday after being activated by USAID, the U.S. government aid agency, to go to Turkey to assist with earthquake recovery efforts.

Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said late Monday.

"Xi Jinping expressed his shock learning of the strong earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, which caused heavy casualties and property losses," the ministry said in a statement.

China will also provide 40 million yuan ($5.9 million) in relief aid to Turkey, the state news agency Xinhua said Tuesday, adding that an additional aid of $200,000 will be provided to Turkey and Syria each by China's Red Cross.

The Yeni mosque destroyed by an earthquake in Malatya, Turkey, on Monday.

As search and rescue teams race to pull survivors from the rubble amid continuing aftershocks, freezing weather and snow have been further complicating the search.

In Malatya, a city in the eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, rescue teams searched for survivors in below-freezing weather Tuesday.

Emergency teams search for people in the rubble of a destroyed building in Adana, southern Turkey, on Tuesday.

India's first dispatch of its aid team arrived in Turkey on Tuesday morning, with a second supply en route, officials said.

More than 50 search and rescue personnel, as well as dog squads, relief equipment and medicines had been sent, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar wrote on Twitter.

"India continues to support the people of Türkiye in their hour of need," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter.

A woman searches for victims at the site of a collapsed building as plumes of black smoke rise in the Turkish port city of Iskenderun on Tuesday.

Search and rescue efforts continued in Turkey and Syria on Tuesday following Monday's devastating earthquakes as the death toll continued to climb, soaring past 5,000.

In Turkey, at least 3,419 people were killed, the country's vice president said in an update. In Syria, the death toll in government-held areas climbed to 812, according to the Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, at least 790 died in the country's rebel-held territories, according to the White Helmets.

That takes the total to at least 5,021 killed across Turkey and Syria, with thousands more injured and many still buried beneath the rubble.