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Turkey-Syria earthquake – updates: Death toll nears 10,000 after steep rise – as hours run down on ‘crucial 72 hours’
The death toll continues to rise after two devastating earthquakes caused widespread destruction in Turkey and Syria. Rescuers are working against the clock to free people trapped under rubble.
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Turkey-Syria Earthquake
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Key points
At least 9,600 dead in Turkey and Syria after earthquakes
Watch: Baby born under Syrian ruins found alive View post
Dominic Waghorn: How will disaster affect the Turkish election? View post
Kay Burley will be presenting live from Sanliurfa in Turkey until 10am – read her eyewitness report: The window for hope is closing View post
Read dispatches from Sky News’ teams on the ground View post
Updates from Kay Burley and Mark Austin in Sanliurfa, Alex Crawford in Antakya, John Sparks in Kahramanmaras, Yousra Elbagir in Gaziantep and Siobhan Robbins in Goksun. Live reporting by Brad Young and Bhvishya Patel
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15m ago
05:00
No heating or electricity in makeshift camp housing hundreds
Hundreds of people are stuck without heating or electricity in a tent city erected for survivors in Sanliurfa, Turkey.
They told presenter Kay Burley they were sleeping on the floor in sub-zero temperatures amid aftershocks of the earthquake.
A man taking shelter with his five young children shared his experience with Sky News…
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30m ago
04:45
Four search and rescue group volunteers dead
Among the dead in Syria are four volunteers from the White Helmets, a volunteer force heavily involved in search and rescue efforts.
Mahmoud Sharif, Dhaif Al-Shaker, Khalil Tokaj and Fatima Al-Hassan and their families were killed by the earthquake, which collapsed buildings across northwestern Syria.
“With great sorrow, we mourn the loss of four White Helmets volunteers and their families who were among the victims of the devastating earthquake,” tweeted the White Helmets.
“Our condolences to their families and to our Syrian people.”
Four members of the White Helmets killed in an earthquake which struck Turkey and Syria on Monday
Four members of the White Helmets killed in an earthquake which struck Turkey and Syria on Monday
The White Helmets
Who are the White Helmets?
The White Helmets have been instrumental in search and rescue efforts in the rebel-held northwest of Syria.
The group have been credited with saving thousands of people in the same region during years of bombing by the Syrian government and Russian forces in Syria’s civil war.
They were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, and have received funding from Western countries including the UK and US.
The group insists they are not partisan.
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46m ago
04:29
More images that illustrate the devastating human impact of these earthquakes
These photos have been taken in Turkey in the last 24 hours…
A devastated woman reacts next to the bodies of victims at a stadium in Kahramanmaras
A devastated woman reacts next to the bodies of victims at a stadium in Kahramanmaras
A tearful woman is consoled next to the body of a relative, also in Kahramanmaras
A tearful woman is consoled next to the body of a relative, also in Kahramanmaras
Volunteers share an emotional moment as they take part in a rescue operation in Hatay
Volunteers share an emotional moment as they take part in a rescue operation in Hatay
Young boy Sevket Celik is taken to an ambulance after being rescued in Hatay
Young boy Sevket Celik is taken to an ambulance after being rescued in Hatay
A girl sits near the site of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras
A girl sits near the site of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras
Survivors in Kahramanmaras
Survivors in Kahramanmaras
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1h ago
04:08
What are the challenges facing rescuers?
Rescuers are increasingly equipped with hydraulic and cutting tools, but face a challenging environment from which to pull out survivors.
Extendable cameras, concrete cutters, chomping tools and ventilating fans are on their way from donor countries.
Sniffer dogs are arriving as the 72-hour “golden rescue period” approaches its end – 4am tomorrow, local time.
Data and forensics correspondent Tom Cheshire analyses how crews are approaching the wreckage…
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1h ago
04:06
Extent of losses will not be known for ‘some time’
The extent of the losses from Turkey and Syria will not be known for “quite some time”, World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris says.
Speaking to Sky’s Kay Burley this morning, Dr Harris says: “Each disaster is different. And of course, the work going on to get people is extremely important.
“We won’t really know the extent of these losses for quite some time. And the important thing is to prevent people who’ve injured or have been affected by this from also dying.”
Dr Harris goes on to say that her team saw a baby that was born under the rubble yesterday.
“Babies will be born in the next few days to people who are sheltering in cars, who were in dire situations and that is not a situation you want a child to be in,” she says.
“There are people who’ve got chronic illness. People who are diabetic and need to get their treatment or people who have hypertension and the stress may lead to a heart attack.
“So all those health services need to be provided as quickly and as close to the people who are currently suffering.”
Asked about reports that suggest the death toll could reach as high as 60,000, she adds: “This is not something we could say yes or no to. Our job is to prevent those numbers going as high as possible.”
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1h ago
03:53
Erdogan to visit earthquake-hit areas
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit areas impacted by Monday’s powerful earthquake, the country’s state media reports.
Mr Erdogan is expected to travel to Kahramanmaras city centre and the Pazarcik district, in southern Turkey, according to Anadolu Agency.
It reported the president will then visit the southern province of Hatay.
This week, Mr Erdogan declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces after an earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks struck Turkey and Syria.
But residents in several damaged Turkish cities have voiced anger and despair at what they said was a slow and inadequate response by the authorities
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1h ago
03:30
Father waits with four-year-old son as search for his wife continues
By Yousra Elbagir, correspondent, in Gaziantep, Turkey
Ibrahim and his four-year-old are waiting. Ibrahim’s wife, the child’s mother, is lost in the rubble in Gaziantep, Turkey – the city closest to the epicentre of Monday’s first 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
The air is thick with pained impatience and fighting breaks out sporadically as families lose their cool with the diggers they say are taking too long. It has now been over 48 hours since the first earthquake struck and the window is rapidly closing for those buried to survive.
Ibrahim and his four-year-old son
Ibrahim and his four-year-old son
Each time the search and rescue teams demand silence to call out for survivors, there is a moment of hopeful quiet that is broken when the cranes start up again and no one is pulled out.
The Turkish authorities say that 8,000 people have been retrieved from the rubble across the country. Relief teams have poured in from all over the world but time is quickly running out in below-freezing temperatures.
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1h ago
03:17
More than 9,600 dead following earthquake
More than 9,600 people have died after an earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks struck Turkey and Syria.
Turkey’s disaster management authority has reported another 800 people dead since their last update at 6.40am.
Across Syria and Turkey, 1,700 people have been recorded as dead since 1.40am.
Turkey’s disaster management authority said there have been 7,108 deaths in the country, and 37,000 people injured.
In Syria, 2,530 have died: 1,280 in insurgent-held areas and 1,250 in government-controlled parts of the country.
In total, at least 9,638 people have lost their lives.
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2h ago
03:12
Desperate survivors in Turkish city finally receive aid
By Alex Crawford, special correspondent, in Antakya, Turkey
The scene inside Hatay is completely unrecognisable compared to 12 hours earlier. It is a hive of activity today.
Aid workers, military police and volunteers have poured into Antakya, the capital of the province. But so far all we’ve seen are corpses being retrieved from the rubble.
A few are laid out in body bags and covered with blankets on a small clearing surrounded by collapsed buildings. Nearby, volunteers are handing out clothing and food donations which they’ve loaded in a van and driven here.
The desperation of people here is acute. Their hands are stretched out towards the volunteers as they dispense their much-needed goods – a single pair of socks and a chocolate bar I saw being placed in one set of hands.
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2h ago
03:02
When will UK return foreign aid to previous level?
The UK government will return to spending 0.7% of GDP on foreign aid “when the UK fiscal position allows”, according to the new Conservative Party chairman.
Greg Hands, who was appointed to the job yesterday, was speaking to Kay Burley – who is in Sanliurfa, Turkey, covering the fallout from the earthquake in the region.
The government cut its foreign aid budget by 0.2% during COVID, but pledged to return to the previous figure.
But a timeline for this is still not forthcoming.
Mr Hands said: “We’ve a difficult fiscal position here in the UK, we’re getting to grips – one of Rishi Sunak’s key priorities is to reduce debt, halve inflation, get that position under control, so our public finances can improve and allow us to do that [increase aid] in due course.”
He said he would not “speculate” on the UK’s future finances, but pointed out that a budget was coming in March.
Mr Hands told Kay that the UK was one of the biggest “bilateral donors” to Syria, and that the government “stands ready” to provide more aid to Turkey.
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2h ago
02:53
More than 1,000 people living in tent city
More than 1,000 people are living in a hastily erected tent city in Sanliurfa, one of Turkey’s cities hit hardest by the earthquake.
A survivor told presenter Kay Burley that he and his family spent two days in the rain and freezing conditions before reaching the makeshift shelters.
He and his five young children are among 25 people sleeping on the floor in a small white tent as aftershocks tremble through the area.
“There was nothing left standing” in his hometown, he said, adding they were surrounded by rubble.
“We were terrified of staying there, it was total devastation so we can’t stay there. It is horrible.
“Everyone is too scared to go into apartment blocks and houses. No one would dare.”
He said he was thankful to have some aid from the authorities, but there was no electricity or heating.
His nephew, holding his baby daughter, explained she cried and was unable to sleep due to the cold.
They told Burley they did not know how long they would be there.
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2h ago
02:53
Along the same theme, the Syrian Red Crescent has called on the West to lift sanctions
The head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is urging the US and the European Union to lift years-old sanctions imposed on Syria to help with relief efforts.
Speaking to reporters, Khaled Hboubati said: “Lift the economic sanctions imposed on Syria and the Syrian people.
“Open the way for us. We are ready to provide assistance. We are ready to provide aid through the crossline and to send aid convoys to Idlib.
“I call on the United Nations, and the countries on the European Union and the USAID Program to support.
“We are exerting our best efforts. Our volunteers reached the areas 10 minutes after the earthquake occurred.”
Sanctions by the US, the European Union and some Arab countries have been in place on Syria since 2011 after human rights violations on civilians were documented.
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2h ago
02:34
Images of makeshift camps give a sense of humanitarian crisis unfolding
The images below give a sense of the humanitarian crisis that has developed after these earthquakes.
They show people sleeping in makeshift camps and were taken by a Reuters photographer in Aleppo in Syria – but we are seeing similar pictures across both countries.
As we have discussed over the last 48 hours, getting aid into Syria is going to be tough due to sanctions against the Assad regime, the government controlling what goes into rebel-held areas of the north (near the border with Turkey), lack of infrastructure and the cold weather conditions.
We know there are between three and four million Syria refugees in southeast Turkey – and more now spilling into the country.
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3h ago
02:10
Almost 80,000 people searching for survivors in Turkey
More than 79,000 people are engaged in rescue operations in Turkey, its disaster management authority has said.
They are part of a major international search and rescue effort, including 76 search-and-rescue specialists who have landed from the UK with equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team.
Read more about which countries are offering support here…
Turkey-Syria earthquake: Which countries have offered to help and what aid are they providing?
Sky News
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3h ago
01:42
More than 8,700 people killed by earthquake
More than 8,700 people have died following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks in Turkey and Syria.
The death toll rose by more than 900 since the figures were last reported at 1.40am.
Turkey’s disaster management authority said there had been 6,234 deaths in the country, and 37,000 people injured.
The White Helmets volunteer rescue team tweeted more than 1,280 people had died in insurgent-held areas of Syria, with another 2,600 injured.
In government-controlled parts of the country, the death toll rose to 1,250, the Syrian health minister was reported to have said by the state-run al-Ikhbariya news outlet.
In total, at least 8,764 people have lost their lives.
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3h ago
01:28
Boy, 3, rescued overnight as crews enter last day of ‘critical’ 72-hour window
A three-year-old boy was among the people pulled from the wreckage of collapsed buildings in Turkey last night, as rescue crews toiled across the country and its neighbour, Syria, 48 hours after a 7.8 magnitude struck the nations.
Arif Kaan was trapped beneath concrete slabs and rebar in Kahramanmaras in sub-zero temperatures while rescuers cut the debris from around him, all the while trying not to trigger another collapse.
His father, Ertugrul Kisi, sobbed as Arif was pulled free and rushed to an ambulance.
“For now, the name of hope in Kahramanmaras is Arif Kaan,” a Turkish television reporter proclaimed.
But with one day left in what experts have called the “critical” first 72 hours, these moments of hope are expected to occur less and less frequently.
And once survivors have been rescued they face another crisis – the cold.
Many survivors in Turkey have had to sleep in cars, outside or in government shelters.
“We don’t have a tent, we don’t have a heating stove, we don’t have anything. Our children are in bad shape. We are all getting wet under the rain and our kids are out in the cold,” said Aysan Kurt, 27.
“We did not die from hunger or the earthquake, but we will die freezing from the cold.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 13 million of the country’s 85 million people were affected by the disaster.
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4h ago
00:59
Eyewitness accounts from around Turkey reflect grief, anger and desperation
Here is a round up of the eyewitness accounts written by correspondents in cities around Turkey:
Presenter Mark Austin and Kirsty Hickey, deputy foreign news editor, report from Tut in the Adiyaman province of Turkey where they helped Ahmat Yilmaz travel to his hometown from Wales…
Turkey earthquake: Man travels over 2,000 miles from South Wales to disaster struck region to find family
Sky News
International correspondent John Sparks reports from Osmaniye, where shouts were heard from underneath the rubble as the rescue mission continues…
Turkey-Syria earthquake: Osmaniye cries out for help as rescuers search for victims under mass of rubble
Sky News
Alex Crawford, special correspondent, reports from Antakya, where many people are directing anger and blame onto the Turkish government…
Turkey-Syria earthquake: Anger and frustration as search for trapped relatives continues – ‘we’re being left to die’ | World News | Sky News
Sky News
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5h ago
23:57
A snapshot of the scene in Aleppo
These are the latest photographs to emerge from the city of Aleppo and its provinces.
In the second picture, children help to move furniture and kitchen appliances out of a collapsed building.
In the final picture, a man sits next to the bodies of his family members who died.
Yesterday we reported on concerns for UNESCO World Heritage sites in Aleppo, with damage reported to the famous Citadel.
Pics: AP
Pics: AP
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6h ago
22:30
Reaching the trapped: Search and rescue teams and how they work
A collapsed building is a “hostile, horrific” place to be trapped, retired firefighter Rob Davis says.
The people who are currently buried alive under rubble in Turkey and Syria will be experiencing traumatic injuries, hunger, thirst, sub-zero temperatures, dust that makes it difficult to breathe, the risk of fire breaking out from damaged gas pipes or drowning in water from burst water mains.
It’s Mr Davis’s job to get them out.
Read more from our news reporter Josephine Franks below…
Gruesome, technical work: How an earthquake search and rescue mission is conducted
Sky News
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7h ago
22:02
How charitable organisations are helping victims in Turkey and Syria
With as many as 23 million people likely to have been impacted by the earthquake, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), several international humanitarian organisations are seeking donations and funds.
Here is a glance at some of the organisations both in the UK and around the globe providing aid:
Save the Children are working to assess the needs of children in both Turkey and northwest Syria and plan to support affected communities with ‘winterisation’ kits.
Oxfam UK’s emergency response is expected to include water and sanitation, shelter and food and reconstruction plans.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which lost one of its members under the rubble, have provided support to 23 health facilities across Idlib and Aleppo and donated blankets and essential items to displaced people.
The Turkish Red Crescent and Syrian Arab Red Crescent (similar to the British Red Cross) have been mobilised to affected communities. Teams are providing psychological support, hot meals, a national stock of blood and plasma and assisting in emergency evacuations.
UNICEF UK have said they are mobilising supplies and services in Syria to support families and children.
Before donating, the United Kingdom’s Charity Register and Ireland’s Charities Regulator verify specific charities to ensure any monetary donation is used appropriately.
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