Death toll in Turkey, Syria earthquakes rises to nearly 8,000

© Umit Bektas/Reuters Women react to the earthquake's destruction amid rubble in Hatay, Turkey.

Freezing weather is hindering rescue teams in Turkey and Syria as they race to save people still trapped in the rubble after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in the early morning hours Monday ripped through the region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces Tuesday as residents in some cities dug for loved ones with their bare hands. In Syria, the disaster compounded an already dire humanitarian crisis made worse by more than a decade of sanctions and war. More than 7,900 have been confirmed dead.

Here’s what to know

• Turkey has reported at least 5,894 deaths and 34,810 injuries. In government-controlled parts of Syria, at least 812 people were killed and 1,449 injured, according to state media. And civil-defense workers in the rebel-held northwest reported more than 1,220 deaths and 2,600 injuries.
• Monday’s earthquake was followed by dozens of aftershocks, including an unusually powerful 7.5-magnitude quake. Erdogan announced a state of emergency in 10 provinces affected by the disaster.
• People in northwest Syria were already in need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations said. Many of the more than 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey live in areas devastated by the quake.

11:58 PM: Social media gives glimpse into hunt for Syria, Turkey quake survivors

© White Helmets/Reuters Search-and-rescue operations continue after the earthquake in Bisnia, Syria, on Tuesday in this image from social media.

It was a triumph of life amid a deluge of death. A newborn infant, still attached to her mother’s umbilical cord, was pulled from the rubble in northwest Syria.

The moments of her rescue were caught on video, showing a man climbing down from the wreckage with the naked, dust-caked baby in his hands. It was hours after a pair of major earthquakes in neighboring Turkey swept through the region, killing thousands of people and leaving a trail of destruction. But there, in the village of Jinderis, a miracle had occurred.

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By: Claire Parker

11:02 PM: Analysis from Rachel Pannett, Rachel Pannett writes about global news for The Washington Post.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a message of sympathy to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after a pair of earthquakes, the largest measuring 7.8 magnitude, struck the country and neighboring Turkey. Syria and North Korea have maintained friendly ties since the Cold War, allegedly defying U.N. sanctions on weapons exports during Syria’s decade-long civil war.

10:02 PM: 400 buildings collapsed and 1,300 severely damaged, White Helmets says

© White Helmets/Reuters Feb. 7 | Aleppo, Syria A rescue operation occurs on collapsed buildings.

The earthquake collapsed more than 400 buildings and severely damaged at least 1,300 more, according to the Syria Civil Defense.

The group, often referred to as the White Helmets, added in a post on Twitter that thousands of other buildings remain damaged.

By: Ben Brasch

9:35 PM: In a Turkish town shattered by the earthquake, death is everywhere

Rescuers search through the rubble in Nurdagi, Turkey, on Tuesday. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)

NURDAGI, Turkey — In a red blanket, Abdurahman Gencay cradled his toddler, Huri, as he walked from door to door and person to person at the local hospital, trying to find someone to bring her home, to their village, to be buried.

Gencay asked a man driving an electric repair van for a ride, but the car had no fuel, the man said. He asked a paramedic for help, but he was told, politely, that the medic’s duty was to save the living.

“Isn’t this your duty?” Gencay said, then sagged in a small garden, weighing his options. Finally, he walked off with his daughter toward Nurdagi, a town stricken like so many in Turkey after Monday’s earthquakes and filled with ambulances and grief and everywhere, the dead.

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By: Kareem Fahim and Zeynep Karatas

8:45 PM: Veteran of Surfside search describes what rescuers in Turkey, Syria face

© Emrah Gurel/AP Feb. 7 | Malatya, Turkey Rescue workers search for survivors.

Search-and-rescue teams from the United States and beyond are gearing up in case they are called to help save the untold numbers of people trapped beneath the destruction.

“Here you’re basically looking as far as the eye can see, from the reports we’re getting, and it’s utter devastation,” said seasoned rescuer Lt. Obed Frometa.

Frometa is a member of Florida Task Force 1 — one of the 28 federally established urban search-and-rescue teams. The Federal Emergency Management Agency began forming these teams in 1989. The majority of the members are from local fire departments and are activated in instances of mass destruction in the United States and around the world. Frometa’s day job is saving lives with the Miami Fire Rescue Department, which on Tuesday released a video of him talking about how these operations work.

Frometa said his Florida task force has been deployed to Colombia and Mexico but also locally when the Champlain Towers high-rise crumbled in Surfside. These teams, according to FEMA, usually have about 70 members and include civilian doctors, engineers and dog handlers who have expertise in rescue.

The Florida task force has not been called to Turkey, but Frometa said his team is ready. Members are packing additional satellite communication equipment and cold-weather gear.

The first goal for any team sent, Frometa said, is to assess which pile of rubble gives the best chance to rescue the most people. Teams use cameras and sensitive microphones to listen for pleas or scratching but also do regular investigatory work — asking people how many were with them in their apartment or how many people they’ve seen walk out of the wreckage.

Being based in Florida, he is used to hurricanes and tornadoes. This is something different.

“Here we’re looking at hundreds of miles of devastation,” Frometa said.

He said his Miami-based task force was sent to Turkey in 1999 when the Izmit earthquake killed more than 17,000 people.

By: Ben Brasch

8:15 PM: Video shows heavy damage to historic citadel in Syria’s Aleppo

Footage released Tuesday shows heavy damage to the citadel of Aleppo in Syria, considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Parts of the minaret of the mosque inside the structure had been severed, and a pillar identified by local architect Mohammed al-Rifaei as the “sheep tower” was reduced to rubble.

“We had repeatedly asked for the restoration of the tower,” Rifaei said, “but now it needs to be rebuilt from scratch.”

The citadel is part of the ancient city of Aleppo, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Several buildings in the fortress and gardens in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir also collapsed, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.

By: Joe Snell

7:45 PM: Death toll in Turkey, Syria earthquakes rises to nearly 8,000

© Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Emergency personnel and locals search for survivors at the site of a collapsed building in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, southeastern Turkey. (Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The death toll from two massive earthquakes and scores of aftershocks has risen to nearly 8,000 in Turkey and Syria, officials said, as rescuers continue to comb the rubble for survivors in freezing temperatures.

Turkey’s vice president, Fuat Oktay, told reporters early Wednesday that 5,894 people have been killed and 34,810 injured. In government-controlled parts of Syria, at least 812 people were killed and 1,449 injured, according to state media. In the rebel-held northwest of Syria, civil defense workers reported more than 1,220 deaths and more than 2,600 injured, a number they said they expected to rise “significantly” as hundreds remain buried under the rubble.

“The loss of every citizen deeply saddens us,” Oktay said, according to state news agency Anadolu.

The vice president estimated that as many as 5,775 buildings had collapsed. Some 8,000 people have been pulled from the rubble.

By: Rachel Pannett

7:15 PM: Syrian teacher recounts how children in Idlib refugee camp reacted to earthquake

Ten hours after the earthquake woke her 40 students in an Idlib refugee camp, Yosra Alahmad, who lives in Berlin and teaches the children virtually, finally heard from Mudar, the 23-year-old who helps facilitate the classes. They had all survived, he told her. The children lived in tents, so they weren’t at risk from a building collapsing on them. But nine were injured.

“If you saw me yesterday, you would see my eyes were swollen from crying all day,” Alahmad told The Washington Post in Arabic. “It was one of the hardest days of my life.”

Many of Alahmad’s students, as young as 5 and as old as 17, are orphans, their parents killed in the war. She sees them as her own children, trying to parent and support them from Germany. They rely on each other to get food and survive in the camp and didn’t realize that the shaking they felt and heard was not an explosion but an earthquake.

“They thought they might die,” Alahmad said. They weren’t sure how long the ambulance sirens lasted, but the ringing seemed endless.

On the video call, several of her students passed around Mudar’s phone so Alahmad could see their eyes lit up by the screen — their faces were otherwise dim from the power outage. It was raining and cold, and none had jackets with them, they told her. It took hours to receive any food after the quake, and the injured children were waiting to be seen at the makeshift camp clinic, which had few doctors.

Alahmad had known many of them since last spring, when she started teaching Arabic and English virtually in the An-Nur refugee camp, and hoped to send them aid.

But as a refugee herself, Alahmad has little money. She plans to collect donations from her other Syrian friends in Germany and send the money to someone in Turkey as soon as she can. She hopes the money will then get taken to another nearby refugee camp in northwestern Syria, she isn’t sure by whom, and eventually to the 40 kids.

“I want to send help, but it’s hard,” she said. “It’s just tragedy after tragedy.”

By: Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff

6:45 PM: Mexico sends search-and-rescue dogs, rescue workers and aid

Rex, July, Ecko, Orly, Timba, Balam and 10 other dogs have departed from Mexico City to fly to Turkey to help look for survivors of Monday’s earthquake.

They left on a Mexican air force plane along with a rescue team, Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, said on Tuesday.

“Their mission: to save lives,” he said.

The canines and the rescue team are traveling with additional aid for Turkey, Ebrard said.

The mission is a joint effort and includes individuals from the Mexican air force, navy, the Red Cross, a civilian search-and-rescue group, and various government departments. It was formed under instruction from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the foreign minister said.

Mexico’s search-and-rescue dogs have made headlines before. After an earthquake in Mexico in 2017, Frida, a yellow Labrador retriever, gained fame as a hero.

Frida, who has since retired and died, saved the lives of 12 people whom she found in the aftermath of multiple disasters.

Greece, Libya, Germany, the Czech Republic, Taiwan, Croatia, Poland and Switzerland are also sending search-and-rescue dogs to Turkey, according to the Associated Press.

By: Maham Javaid

6:15 PM: Abnormally cold weather to prolong suffering for quake victims

Predicted temperature difference (in degrees Celsius) from normal over Turkey and neighboring areas over the next week. (WeatherBell)

For at least the next week, a bitter weather pattern will worsen a challenging situation for those left homeless by Monday’s quakes, or for those yet to be rescued.

Computer models project that temperatures will remain about 10 to 15 degrees (5.5 to 8 Celsius) below average, with no sign of a thaw in southern Turkey and northern Syria. In a tweet Tuesday, Turkey’s General Directorate of Meteorology confirmed that temperatures are predicted to be below seasonal norms through Feb. 14.

In a tweet summarizing the forecast for the area affected by the earthquake, the directorate predicts freezing lows and highs only in the 30s to near 40 (between 1 and 4 Celsius) through Saturday with generally partly cloudy skies.

In Nurdagi, Turkey — near the epicenter of the quakes — overnight temperatures are predicted to drop into the 20s (minus-2 to minus-6 Celsius) through the middle of next week, with daytime highs only in the 40s (5 to 9 Celsius), according to weather.com.

Mercifully, a mainly dry weather pattern is predicted, with little rain or snow.

The unusually persistent bout of weather is the result of a frigid pool of air and low pressure at high altitudes parked over the region hardest hit by the quakes. It may not become dislodged until some time next week.

By: Jason Samenow

5:45 PM: Two Syrian towns cleared of bodies, say civil defense workers

Rescue operations in two Syrian towns hit by the earthquake have ended, the Syria civil defense agency, known as the White Helmets, said Tuesday.

The search and rescue in Atarib and Sarmada ended because “we recovered all the bodies,” Ismail Alabdullah, a volunteer for the White Helmets, told The Washington Post.

They have been conducting search operations for more than 40 hours and will continue their work in other cities, including Afrin and Harem, the agency said on Twitter.

The death toll from the earthquake is expected to rise because hundreds of families are trapped under the rubble, they said.

An entire family was rescued from the wreckage of their house Tuesday afternoon in the village of Bisnia, west of Idlib.

By: Claire Parker and Maham Javaid

5:15 PM: Aerial photos show scale of destruction in Turkey’s Antakya

The city of Antakya, the capital of Turkey’s Hatay province, is perched on the mouth of Orontes River and lies just 12 miles from the Syrian border. In its long history, the area has changed hands many times, including when Turkey annexed Hatay from Syria — then under French mandate — in 1939.

Now, you can hear both Turkish and Arabic spoken in Antakya’s streets, including in the narrow passages of the old city, and its cuisine is more Levantine than Turkish, influenced heavily by its neighbor to the south. In recent years, Syrian refugees have flocked here and other places in southern Turkey to escape their country’s brutal civil war. According to several estimates, the city’s population hovered between 300,000 and 400,000.

On Monday, a massive earthquake struck just 125 miles north of Antakya, leaving a trail of destruction across southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. In Antakya, the temblor leveled homes, hospitals, businesses and apartment buildings. The scale of the devastation was captured in aerial images taken above the city.

© AP/AP The destruction in Hatay city center, also known as Antakya, in southern Turkey on Tuesday. (IHA/Associated Press) © Umit Bektas/Reuters Hatay is a mixed city near the Syrian border. (Umit Bekas/Reuters) © Umit Bektas/Reuters The ancient city has been destroyed by earthquakes before. Residents now say they have seen little help from the government as they dig through the rubble in search of survivors. (Umit Bekas/Reuters) © Umit Bektas/Reuters Antakya lies at the mouth of the Orontes River. (Umit Bekas/Reuters) © Umit Bektas/Reuters Turkish and Arabic can be heard on Antakya's streets, a testament to its history as a mixed city that has belonged to both Turkey and Syria. (Umit Bekas/Reuters)

By: Erin Cunningham

4:45 PM: D.C.-area Turkish community fundraises for quake victims

Turkish Americans and expatriates from the country who are in the Washington region have begun a fundraising drive for earthquake victims.

Sitki Kazanci, president of the American Turkish Association of Washington D.C., said Tuesday that his organization has raised $30,000 so far while also collecting clothing, blankets, diapers and other items to be flown to Istanbul.

Like many other Turkish Americans, Kazanci said he still has family in the southern part of Turkey that has suffered the worst damage. A sister and her family have been sheltering in their car since early Monday after evacuating their building, he said.

“They have no [internet] connection, no water, no heat, no power,” he said. “They need immediate help. International help.”

Kazanci said his organization has been coordinating with the Turkish Embassy to collect donations.

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By: Antonio Olivo

4:02 PM: U.S. rescue teams to bring specialized equipment, top disaster official says

© Us Air Force/Via Reuters Equipment and supplies for the Urban Search and Rescue team from Fairfax, Va., and USAID to help in support operations for victims of the earthquake in Turkey are loaded onto a transport plane at Dover Air Force Base, Del., in this handout photo released Tuesday.

The scale of the destruction following the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria this week requires all the assistance the world can muster, a top disaster official with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said Tuesday.

Stephen Allen, who heads the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) that USAID is setting up in Turkey to coordinate U.S. assistance following Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake, said the fact that the United States was flying two urban search and rescue teams into the affected area from as far away as Los Angeles was a testament to how much outside help was required.

“The level of devastation, the level of damage, and the expected resultant and loss of life, is massive,” Allen said.

“In this case, and I really do have to emphasize, it’s not a question of if they should come; it’s a question of, can they come on time to be useful?” he said of the U.S. rescue teams. “And the window that we’ve got to get the U.S. teams on the ground, they will still make an impact. And so we are moving forward with it.”

The quake, which toppled scores of buildings and was felt as far away as Egypt, represented another major blow to areas already strained by more than a decade of war and displacement. Allen said that urban search and rescue teams from Los Angeles and Fairfax, Va., being flown to Turkey by U.S. military aircraft were expected to land in the coming hours. They will be sent to hard-hit areas.

Quake in Turkey and Syria follows a deeper history of disaster

The teams, which include about 80 rescue workers each, will bring specialized equipment including drills and hydraulic concrete breaking tools, advanced medical gear, and a dozen working dogs that can attempt to find survivors amid piles of rubble. Allen said those rescue workers would join another 20 international urban search teams that have flocked to Turkey in wake of the quake.

By: Missy Ryan

3:20 PM: What caused the earthquake in Turkey? Here are 7 things to know.

Rescue teams evacuate a survivor from the rubble in Turkey. (Khalil Hamra/Associated Press)

At least 7,000 people have been killed and countless others remain missing after a pair of exceptionally destructive earthquakes shook Turkey and a broad swath of the Middle East. Particularly hard hit was Aleppo in northern Syria, a nation already embroiled in a brutal civil war that is now facing compounding disasters.

Amid the lengthy rescue, recovery and rebuilding process that lies ahead, many have raised questions regarding the impetus of the earthquakes, how long aftershocks can be expected and just how bad the sequence was.

We broke down seven things to know when it comes to the earthquake sequence.

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By: Matthew Cappucci

2:33 PM: ‘I saw death’: Rescuers in rebel-held Syria plead for help after quake

© Aaref Watad/AFP/Getty Images Syrian rescuers carry a body past collapsed buildings on Monday in the town of Sarmada, in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province.

BEIRUT — For more than a decade, residents of an opposition-held enclave in northwest Syria have endured bombardment, brutal fighting and a seemingly endless humanitarian crisis, haunted by the fear that no one cares. On Monday, after an earthquake destroyed their homes and flattened their neighborhoods, the sting of abandonment was almost too much to bear.

“It has been 12 years of us asking for help, calling on people who have discarded us as we died in front of their eyes,” said Hussam Zleito, 47, a member of the Syria Civil Defense, an aid group that operates in areas outside government control.

“And during this huge unfortunate humanitarian crisis, the world has turned its back on us, as if there aren’t human beings in this area, as if there are no souls [here].”

The powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria early Monday has wrought havoc across southern Turkey and northern Syria. The two governments launched relief efforts and dispatched search and rescue teams. Foreign countries were quick to pledge help, establishing humanitarian aid bridges, adding flights to affected areas, and sending experts and rescuers.

But people in Syria’s rebel-held, war-shattered Idlib province and its surroundings have largely been left to dig out on their own.

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By: Sarah Dadouch

1:47 PM: Analysis from Erin Cunningham, Foreign Evening Editor

The post-quake rescue operations in Turkey and Syria are “now a race against time,” the head of the World Health Organization said Tuesday. “Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a meeting of the executive board. The WHO is also dispatching teams and supplies to the region.

1:08 PM: Photos: Rescuers search for — and find — survivors

The death toll has risen to more than 5,100 in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit southern Turkey and neighboring Syria on Monday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a state of emergency for three months in the 10 regions hit, as rescuers continue to dig through the rubble of collapsed buildings in search of survivors.

© Umit Bektas/Reuters Muhammet Ruzgar, 5, is carried out by rescuers from the site of a damaged building, following an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 7, 2023. REUTERS/Umit Bektas © Ilyas Akengin/AFP/Getty Images Feb. 7 | Kahramanmaras, Turkey A woman reacts as people watch rescue personnel search for victims and survivors through the rubble of buildings.

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By: Washington Post Staff

12:41 PM: Lift sanctions on Syria, Middle East Council of Churches urges

The Middle East Council of Churches called for the immediate lifting of international sanctions on Syria so that emergency aid can easily reach people in the country impacted by the earthquake.

They must be lifted urgently “so sanctions may not turn into a crime against humanity,” read the council’s statement Monday.

The Beirut-based council, which represents Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic churches in the region, also called on the international community and all Christian churches to provide emergency aid to the region.

Churches in the Middle East have limited resources because of the international blockade, and these have been directed to those affected by the earthquake, the statement said.

Syria is in an economic and humanitarian crisis and has been suffering a civil war for 12 years — the U.S. and European Union’s sanctions on the country have made mobilizing aid for the country a thorny issue.

The sanctions, which began in 2011, aim to cut off the Syrian regime from resources it needs to continue violence against civilians and to pressure them into democratic transition as the Syrian people demand, said the State Department.

By: Maham Javaid

12:13 PM: Did animals in Turkey and Syria sense the quake early? Here’s the science.

© Sssavor/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Birds flew erratically above snow-capped buildings. Dogs howled loudly. Then, a devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria leveled buildings and killed more than 5,000 people.

Social media users claimed that animals were behaving strangely just before the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake and significant aftershocks. While The Washington Post could not immediately verify the footage, the idea that animals can detect powerful earthquakes before humans has been a theory since at least ancient times.

There is scientific research that supports it. Much in the same way that seismological machines can pick up tremors undetectable to the human body, animals are better equipped to sense tiny foreshocks traveling through the Earth seconds before more powerful earthquake waves barrel through, scientists say.

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By: Leo Sands

11:50 AM: Photos: Fire rages at Iskenderun port after earthquake

© Serdar Ozsoy/Depo/AP Containers burn in Iskenderun, in southern Turkey, on Tuesday.

A fire at the port of Iskenderun in southern Turkey, which started Monday, was still burning Tuesday. Photos show a thick column of smoke rising from a pile of toppled containers.

While the cause was not immediately clear, Turkish media reported that the fire started after containers collapsed in the wake of Monday’s earthquake.

© Serdar Ozsoy/Depo/AP Smoke rises from burning containers at the port in Iskenderun on Tuesday. © Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters The thick pillar of smoke rises high into the air over the port of Iskenderun on Tuesday. © Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters Flames and black smoke at the port of Iskenderun on Tuesday.

By: Morgan Coates and Amar Nadhir

11:23 AM: Earthquake was ‘white swan event,’ expert says

Monday’s earthquake was a “white swan event,” or an expected, regular occurrence, said Susan Hough, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Such events “on an average might occur every few hundred years, which in geologic terms is very frequent,” she wrote in an email.

Earthquakes expose vulnerabilities in cities, and “risk reduction is a process,” she said, adding that damage and losses “spur further progress toward resilience.” California, for instance, retrofitted its overpasses and bridges after overpasses collapsed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

By: Niha Masih

10:59 AM: Video: ‘I don’t have hope.’ Earthquake survivor fears for his wife.

When an earthquake toppled his home in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Hulusi Ibrahim said it felt like “doomsday.”

“Before we had the chance to think about what we could do, the building collapsed on us,” Ibrahim recalled.

While he managed to find his way out, his wife remained trapped in rubble.

“I didn’t get any response from her for three hours. I don’t know. I can’t bring myself to say it. But I don’t have hope.”

By: News Services and Staff Reports

10:37 AM: World Heritage sites damaged in quake, UNESCO says

© AFP/Getty Images The minaret of the mosque inside the citadel of Aleppo in Syria, before and after the earthquake.

The United Nations’ cultural agency is concerned about several World Heritage sites that were damaged in the earthquake. UNESCO said it was “particularly concerned” about the citadel of Aleppo in Syria, where significant damage was reported. “The western tower of the old city wall has collapsed and several buildings in the souks have been weakened,” the organization’s director general, Audrey Azoulay, said in a statement Tuesday.

Several buildings in the fortress and gardens in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir also collapsed, according to Azoulay. The site, which was named a World Heritage site in 2015, was “an important center of the Roman, Sassanid, Byzantine, Islamic and Ottoman periods,” she added.

Other Turkish sites on the list, which were close to the epicenter, may also have been affected, the statement said. “My condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those who died. My thoughts are also with the injured and all those affected. Our Organization will provide assistance within its mandate,” Azoulay said, noting that UNESCO would mobilize its experts and partners to carry out an inventory of the damage to help secure and stabilize the affected sites.

By: Victoria Bisset

10:13 AM: Aleppo rescue: Watch as a man digs a child out of a collapsed building

Footage released by the Syria Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, on Tuesday shows a child being rescued from the rubble of a building in Jindires, in northern Syria.

The video was published a day after a powerful earthquake struck near the Turkish-Syrian border, killing more than 5,000 people across both countries. International aid and rescue teams continue to pour in with the hope of finding more survivors.

By: Naomi Schanen

9:52 AM: Winter weather could hinder rescue efforts

© Umit Bektas/Reuters People gather around a fire after the earthquake in Turkey's Hatay province, in the country's far south near the border with Syria.

As search and rescue teams race to save people trapped in the earthquake’s destruction in Turkey and Syria, the cold weather poses additional threats of hypothermia and frostbite to those already fighting to survive.

Veli Agbaba, deputy chairman of Turkey’s Republican People’s Party, likened the streets to battlefields in a post on Twitter and expressed concern that those stuck under the rubble may freeze to death. Temperatures in Gaziantep, Turkey, and Aleppo, Syria, both of which were hit hard by the earthquake, are forecast to dip below freezing overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

Photos from the morning after the disaster showed people huddling around fires and bundled up in parkas.

© Umit Bektas/Reuters The aftermath in Hatay on Tuesday.

By: Kelsey Ables

9:21 AM: At least four aid workers killed in northern Syria

At least four aid workers were among the hundreds killed in northern Syria, according to the organizations that employed them.

The Qatari Red Crescent said three of its field staff were killed. One was the supervisor of a traveling clinic in a camp for internally displaced people in northwestern Syria. One woman provided psychosocial support in a clinic in Idlib. Another was a pharmacist in northern Syria.

Doctors Without Borders said that one of its employees was found dead under the rubble of his home in Idlib, northwestern Syria. “We are very shocked and saddened by the impact of this disaster on the thousands of people touched by it, including our colleagues and their families,” Sebastien Gay, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Syria, said in the statement.

Both organizations said that other employees had lost family members in the earthquake.

By: Sarah Dadouch and Victoria Bisset

9:20 AM: Analysis from Kareem Fahim, Istanbul bureau chief covering the Middle East

In several districts of Nurdagi, a town of 40,000 a few dozen miles south of the epicenter, every building has collapsed or seems on the verge, including tall residential buildings. Rescue workers toiled on debris mounds, with vanishing hope Tuesday of finding anyone alive, nearly 30 hours after the quake. Dozens of bodies lay on the pavement outside the local hospital, in floral blankets or body bags, waiting for relatives to finish paperwork so their loved ones could be released. “They go as quickly as they come,” a policeman said.

9:03 AM: Quake halts U.N. aid into northwest Syria, spokeswoman says

Damaged roads and other devastation from the earthquake have forced the United Nations to halt deliveries from Turkey into northwestern Syria, where millions of people face dire conditions after almost 12 years of civil war and displacement, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. “Some roads are broken; some are inaccessible,” Madevi Sun-Suon, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told Reuters. “There are logistical issues that need to be worked through,” she said, adding: “We don’t have a clear picture of when it will resume.”

About 4.1 million of the estimated 4.5 million people living in northwestern Syria rely on humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations. Deliveries to opposition-held areas — where rescuers say more than 800 people died in the earthquake — are possible only via Turkey.

By: Victoria Bisset

8:41 AM: What makes an earthquake an aftershock vs. a separate seismic event?

The powerful aftershocks that followed the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey on Monday included a 6.7-magnitude quake 11 minutes after the initial shock and a 7.5-magnitude tremor hours later. Each would have stood alone as a powerful seismic event, but what defines an “aftershock” — as opposed to an independent earthquake — is less about the power of the quake than its location and timing.

According to the United States Geological Survey, an “aftershock” is a smaller earthquake that occurs near the initial one and happens before “background seismic activity” returns to normal. In other words, “an earthquake will be called an aftershock as long as the rate of earthquakes is higher than it was before the mainshock,” the Southern California Earthquake Center says. The frequency of the smaller shocks decreases over time, but it can take days or years for seismicity to reach normal levels. Aftershocks, the USGS says, typically reflect readjustments along the fault where the rock slipped during the main event.

Deeper earthquakes are less likely to be followed by aftershocks, but Monday’s quake was relatively shallow, about 11 miles below the Earth’s surface.

So, while powerful, the subsequent quakes near the first one in Turkey are considered aftershocks, while a smaller earthquake in Buffalo that also came afterward was unrelated, the USGS said on Twitter. “Felt earthquakes are known to occur occasionally in the Great Lakes region,” the organization added. Buffalo is on the Clarendon-Linden north-south fault system in western New York state, and Turkey’s quake happened on the East Anatolian fault zone.

By: Kelsey Ables

8:23 AM: Video shows child rescued from rubble

A video shared by the Syrian Civil Defense shows a child painstakingly dug out by workers in the Syrian town of Atarib. Rescuers drill out chunks of rubble to free the child’s legs, which appear to be buried in debris. One leg is freed first and then the other is gently pulled out, the video shows, as the child attempts to get up.

By: Niha Masih

8:19 AM: Injured soccer player Christian Atsu is pulled from rubble

© Scott Heppell/Reuters Christian Atsu, then a player for Newcastle United, pictured before a match in Britain in 2020.

Christian Atsu, a former Premier League soccer player, has been pulled from the rubble of a building that collapsed in Turkey’s Hatay province, one of the areas closest to the epicenter of the earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria on Monday, an official for his current club said Tuesday.

“Christian Atsu was pulled out injured,” Mustafa Ozat, the vice president of Hatayspor of the Turkish Super Lig, told Radyo Gol on Tuesday. “Our sporting director, Taner Savut, is unfortunately still under the rubble.”

Atsu, a 31-year-old who played forward on Ghana’s 2014 World Cup team, was “successfully rescued,” the Ghana Football Association tweeted Tuesday, adding that he “is receiving treatment.”

Atsu, who played for Newcastle, Chelsea, Everton and Bournemouth in England’s Premier League before joining Hatayspor last year following a brief stint with the Saudi club Al Raed, was reported missing Monday, prompting messages of prayers and solidarity on social media.

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By: Cindy Boren and Niha Masih

8:01 AM: Analysis from Victoria Bisset, Breaking news, international news

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, lowered its flag on Tuesday to pay tribute to the thousands of victims of the earthquake.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday declared seven days of mourning in the country.

7:44 AM: Analysis from Sarah Dadouch, Correspondent covering the Middle East

Lebanon was in a state of shock after the earthquake, with many residents still jumpy following a 2020 explosion in the capital. But attention quickly turned to Syria. On social media, people asked for ways to help, and the government waived taxes for planes and ships bringing aid to Syria and sent a delegation of first responders and engineers.

7:26 AM: Analysis from Ben Brasch, General Assignment reporter

The U.S. Geological Survey built an animated map showing the initial earthquake and the timing of aftershocks. The 7.8-magnitude quake hit about 4:15 a.m. local time Monday, according to the USGS. A large aftershock at 7.5 magnitude hit about nine hours later to the north. In the wake of each, the animation shows a decaying line of smaller aftershocks.

7:06 AM: Turkey’s Erdogan declares 3-month state of emergency in hard-hit regions

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a state of emergency for three months in 10 regions hit hard by the massive earthquake.

In a speech on Tuesday, he said more than 53,000 search and rescue workers were in the quake zone and that at least 8,000 people had been rescued from the rubble so far. He also said 5,000 health workers were dispatched to parts of southern Turkey and that dozens of countries had offered to help in the rescue operations.

By: Ellen Francis

7:03 AM: Syrian government gets cascade of aid pledges from around the Mideast

The Syrian government, a regional and international pariah for the past decade, has received pledges of humanitarian aid from around the Middle East as its tally of victims grows.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was shunned by many former Arab allies after popular protests erupted in 2011. He weathered the coronavirus pandemic with aid from traditional allies Russia, Iran and China. But Assad and his government have been slowly returning to the fold, with the United Arab Emirates paving the way for regional reconciliation.

The rich Persian Gulf country pledged Monday to set up a field hospital and send search and rescue teams, as well as other humanitarian aid. Others followed: Neighboring Iraq said it had established a humanitarian air bridge to transport logistical, medical and food aid. Egypt’s president pledged to send aid, as well, as did Oman’s sultan and Tunisia’s president. Algeria dispatched 115 tons of emergency aid to Aleppo, and Lebanon announced it would waive taxes and fees for planes and ships bringing aid to Syria, while also sending a delegation that includes civil defense workers, engineers and firefighters.

By: Sarah Dadouch

6:35 AM: Analysis from Kelsey Ables, Reporter in the Seoul hub

Russian humanitarian relief aircraft carrying rescue specialists and doctors have arrived in Turkey, the Kremlin said on Twitter. The aid gives Russia a way to improve its global public image, which has deteriorated amid its invasion of Ukraine. As of September, the war had left 18 million people in Ukraine needing humanitarian support, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

6:24 AM: Refugee havens ravaged by quake

© Aaref Watad/AFP/Getty Images A camp for internally displaced people in Syria, near the border with Turkey.

Several southern Turkish regions devastated by Monday’s quake are home to large numbers of Syrian refugees. Gaziantep, at the quake’s epicenter, is home to nearly half a million Syrians and is a hub for getting international aid into neighboring Syria. The U.N.’s migration agency is preparing to distribute essential aid there.

Hatay and Sanliurfa each host around 430,000, many of whom live in makeshift accommodation, according to the Turkey-based Refugees and Asylum Seekers Assistance and Solidarity Association.

Turkey hosts nearly 4 million displaced people, making it the world’s largest home to refugees, according to the U.N. The majority are Syrians who fled the war-ravaged country, many in the hopes of making it to Europe.

By: Rachel Pannett

6:15 AM: No damage reported at nuclear plant under construction

A nuclear power plant being constructed in Turkey’s Mersin province, some 200 miles from the epicenter of the quake in Gaziantep, did not suffer any damage, the state-run Anadolu agency reported, citing officials.

Construction continues, the head of the Akkuyu nuclear project told the agency. The plant on the Mediterranean coast will be the country’s first and is expected to begin generating power later in the year.

By: Niha Masih

6:00 AM: South Korea to send rescue workers and medical aid to Turkey

SEOUL — South Korea is sending dozens of rescue workers and medical aid to Turkey in the wake of Monday’s earthquake.

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday ordered officials to dispatch a 60-person rescue team and other supplies “in a prompt manner” via military aircraft, according to a statement from his office.

Yoon called Turkey a “brother nation” that sent troops in support of South Korea during the 1950-1953 Korean War. He also sent condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and promised “every possible support,” according to his office.

By: Min Joo Kim

5:39 AM: How to help people affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

© Omar Sanadik/AP Civil defense workers and security forces search through the wreckage of collapsed buildings in Hama, Syria, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.

The earthquake and its aftershocks left massive destruction across Turkey and northern and central Syria, and beyond. More than 3,000 people have been killed, and more than 11,000 more injured.

It is the strongest earthquake to hit Turkey is more than 80 years. Thousands of emergency responders have been searching for people amid the rubble of collapsed buildings, and medical teams have been tending to the injured. The full scale of the damage is still being determined.

The powerful earthquake and its dozens of aftershocks, including a second quake almost as strong as the initial one, come during frigid winter temperatures and an existing humanitarian crisis in Syria, compounded by more than a decade of destructive civil war.

Here is how to help:

Start with groups you know

Major international groups are among the first to coordinate on-the-ground response teams in the affected regions.

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By: Sammy Westfall

5:22 AM: Analysis from Sarah Dadouch, Correspondent covering the Middle East

The Qatari Red Crescent says three field employees in Syria have died in the earthquake and that other employees have lost family members. It says one victim was the supervisor of a traveling clinic in a camp for internally displaced people in northwestern Syria, one woman provided psychosocial support in a clinic in Idlib, and another was a pharmacist in northern Syria.

5:01 AM: Turkey flies critically injured to capital

© Burhan Ozbilici/AP Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

Critically injured patients rescued from the wreckage of the quake are being airlifted to the capital, Ankara, said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca. He also shared a video on Twitter of patients on stretchers being taken off planes and moved into ambulances.

More than 4,000 health personnel have been rushed to southern Turkey, he said. Initial medical aid is being administered in tents, after which patients are transferred to hospitals.

By: Niha Masih

4:43 AM: L.A. County Fire Department sends search and rescue team

A search and rescue team from the Los Angeles County Fire Department is deploying to Turkey to aid in recovery efforts following the earthquake.

The team includes 81 personnel, six K9 teams and three structural engineers, the department said in a post on Twitter, which includes photos of team members making preparations and rows of suitcases and crates.

The team will offer aid in Turkey alongside Fairfax County’s Urban Search and Rescue Team. The Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance at USAID, which facilitates disaster relief, wished “safe travels to all those making the journey to help communities devastated by this catastrophe.”

By: Kelsey Ables

4:24 AM: Analysis from Katerina Ang, Assignment Editor working for the Foreign desk on breaking news

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday that Australia would send an initial $6.94 million in humanitarian aid via the Red Cross, Red Crescent and other humanitarian agencies. “Australia’s assistance will target those in greatest need,” he said at a news conference in Canberra, Australia, alongside his visiting New Zealand counterpart, Chris Hipkins.

4:06 AM: Analysis from Victoria Bisset, Breaking news, international news

The World Health Organization is sending three charter flights with medical supplies to Turkey and Syria, and is “especially concerned about areas where we do not yet have information,” its head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.

Aftershocks, winter weather and the damage caused by the earthquake are hampering rescue efforts, he added.

3:54 AM: Analysis from Victoria Bisset, Breaking news, international news

The death toll passed 5,000 on Tuesday as Turkey’s vice president reported that 3,419 people were killed and more than 20,000 wounded. The Syrian government said 812 people died and 1,449 were wounded in government-held areas, while the Syrian Civil Defense said more than 790 were killed and over 2,200 injured in northwestern opposition-held areas.

3:44 AM: U.K.-based journalist shares his family’s ordeal trapped under rubble

The hours since the quake have been long and arduous for the family of Mehmet Solmaz, a journalist based in Britain who said he has relatives trapped under rubble in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras. Solmaz shared a video of flattened homes on Twitter, including one that he said belongs to his aunt.

Sounds from within the debris could be heard, he said, but rescue efforts were hampered by a lack of tools. As darkness fell, the search halted.

Turkey faces the enormous task of rescuing people buried under large mounds of rubble, which is proving to be tricky in the biting winter weather.

Solmaz said in a tweet posted early Tuesday morning local time that his relatives have no strength left. He said he has already lost four family members in the earthquake.

By: Niha Masih

3:21 AM: Doctors struggle to provide care in northwest Syria

As a new day dawned in northwest Syria, doctors said the grim toll of Monday’s earthquake was laid out across hospitals and medical facilities. Patients on gurneys lined the corridors, they said. Photographs released by aid groups showed exhaustion etched on the faces of medics and patients.

Most had worked for more than 24 hours without a break, even as they tried to locate missing loved ones. In a facility in the Syrian village of Bab al-Hawa, a doctor learned that his wife and son had been killed in the Turkish province of Hatay. His two daughters were rescued.

“They need a break,” said Amjad Rass, president of the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports a network of medical facilities across Syria’s beleaguered northwest. “We need people to help them. As a doctor, you have become the victim and the rescuer at the same time.”

The northwestern region is controlled by opposition armed groups, which oppose President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Rescue workers from the Syrian Civil Defense there say that more than 790 people were killed in Monday’s earthquake and its aftershocks. Thousands more are wounded or missing. Fresh medical supplies are urgently needed, Rass said.

The civil defense was expected to resume operations Tuesday morning. A spokesperson was not reachable because the area’s cell network is down. Temperatures reached near freezing overnight. It is not known how many people remain under the rubble.

Assad and his Russian allies have targeted medical facilities in opposition-controlled areas throughout the war, forcing many out of service or underground. “Doctors have been targeted for a long time, but this is different,” Rass said. “The enemy is the roof over your head.”

By: Louisa Loveluck

2:59 AM: Part of UNESCO heritage site damaged in Syria

© AFP/Getty Images Aleppo’s ancient citadel was damaged after a deadly earthquake that shook Syria on Monday.

Aleppo’s ancient citadel, which is central to the Ancient City of Aleppo, the UNESCO World Heritage site, suffered a blow after Monday’s quake. Parts of an Ottoman mill inside of the citadel collapsed and portions of the northeast defense wall fell, Syria’s Directorate General of Antiquities and Museum said in a Facebook post. Portions of the citadel were also damaged during the Syrian civil war.

The citadel rises “above the souks, mosques and madrassas of the old walled city” and is a “testament to Arab military might from the 12th to the 14th centuries,” according to UNESCO. The architecture is a mix of Hittite, Hellenistic, Roman, byzantine and Ayyubid influences.

The National Museum of Aleppo’s facade was also lined with cracks, and some artifacts inside had been destroyed, the Syrian government agency said. In a later post, the organization noted that parts of Marqab Castle in western Syria had also sustained damage, including a circular tower on the north side of the structure.

By: Kelsey Ables

2:35 AM: Civilian flights stopped at some Turkish airports

Multiple airports in southern Turkey suspended civilian flights on Monday, Turkish Airlines said.

Airports in the cities of Gaziantep, Malatya and Kahramanmaras, which sustained some of the worst damage Monday from the earthquake, were only servicing flights offering rescue operations and humanitarian aid, according to the country’s flag carrier. It added that all flights at Hatay Airport were also suspended.

By: Niha Masih

2:13 AM: Analysis from Ben Brasch, General Assignment reporter

Alexandra Hatem, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey, said the 7.8-magnitude earthquake ruptured a large portion of the East Anatolian fault, which saw a 6.7 in 2020. “There have been numerous damaging earthquakes around this area, and we are trying to determine whether one of these would lead to a larger earthquake,” she said Monday evening.

1:49 AM: Aid from Iraq and Iran arrives in Syria

Aid from Iraq and Iran has arrived at Damascus International Airport, Syrian state media reported.

Iran sent 45 tons of supplies including blankets, tents and medicine. Two more planes from Iran are due to land in Aleppo and Latakia on Tuesday, according to the reports. Meanwhile, two planes from Iraq carried 70 tons of food and supplies, and Baghdad is also dispatching a fuel convoy.

By: Niha Masih

1:20 AM: Analysis from Julia Mio Inuma

Tokyo on Monday evening dispatched the Japan Disaster Relief Rescue Team to Turkey to conduct search and rescue operations. The emergency assistance was in response to a request from the Turkish government following the devastating earthquakes.

12:59 AM: Countries offer aid, but Syrian civil war adds complications

Offers of aid for quake-hit Turkey and Syria have come in from foreign governments. But diplomatic tensions with the government of Bashar al-Assad over the Syrian civil war have complicated the matter.

In a statement, President Biden said senior administration officials had “reached out immediately to their Turkish counterparts to coordinate any and all needed assistance.” The statement said that “U.S.-supported humanitarian partners are also responding to the destruction in Syria.”

Britain, meanwhile, said it would send search-and-rescue specialists to Turkey. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also tweeted that the “UK-funded White Helmets have mobilized their resources to respond” in Syria, referring to the nongovernmental Syrian civil defense rescue team that operates in rebel-held areas.

Many Western countries have frosty relations — or, in the case of the United States, no formal diplomatic relations — with Assad, whose government has waged a brutal war against rebel groups since 2011. Some of the areas of Syria hit hardest by the earthquake are in the northwest, where the rebels’ last strongholds are located.

Other nations focused their early aid pledges on Turkey. According to the European Commission, 10 search-and-rescue teams from eight European Union countries had been sent to Turkey. India said it would send medical teams and other support to Turkey but did not mention Syria.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said their country would provide assistance to Turkey, while Taiwan said a 40-person rescue team was on its way.

Among the nations offering direct aid to Assad’s government was Russia, his most important ally in the Syrian civil war. Russia was dispatching emergency response workers to Syria, the Kremlin said in a readout of the Monday call between President Vladimir Putin and Assad.

Putin also offered his deep condolences to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and confirmed Russia’s “readiness to immediately provide Turkish partners with necessary assistance in dealing with the aftermath of this natural disaster,” the Kremlin said later.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared to send search, rescue and medical assistance to both Turkey and Syria. Netanyahu said in a speech that he had ordered aid sent to Turkey. He added, “Since a request was also received to do this for many victims of the earthquake in Syria, I instructed to do this as well.” He later said a diplomatic official had made the request for aid to Syria.

China is also willing to help both Turkey and Syria, a spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency said Monday, according to its website.

Jennifer Hassan, Natalia Abbakumova, Meaghan Tobin and Leo Sands contributed to this report.

By: Adam Taylor

12:33 AM: Video: Rescuers find person trapped in rubble

In a recording from Hatay, Turkey, rescuers hear the cries of a woman trapped under concrete ruins.

“Help!” she yells.

A body lies nearby.

By: News Services and Staff Reports

12:05 AM: Analysis from Ben Brasch, General Assignment reporter

Kerem Kinik, president of the Turkish Red Crescent, tweeted that his group is shipping extra blood to the earthquake zone. State media has said that more than 14,000 people were injured. The organization tweeted that it has sent five mobile kitchens, 77 catering vehicles, almost 2,000 tents and more than 25,000 blankets.

11:41 PM: Analysis from Nick Parker

President Biden spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday evening to express his condolences, according to the White House. In a tweet, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he spoke with his Turkish counterpart and that he plans to “coordinate with Türkiye to do all that we can to assist in Türkiye and Syria.”

11:15 PM: U.S. doctor helpless as parents, in-laws are trapped in southern Turkey

© Sertac Kayar/Reuters Rescuers search for survivors in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on Monday, Feb. 6. (Sertac Kayar/Reuters)

The images out of Syria and southern Turkey were heartbreaking as Houssam al-Nahhas monitored the earthquake damage from his home in Maryland.

But the devastation really hit home when he finally heard from his parents and in-laws in southern Turkey, all of whom had nowhere to go after the temblor severely damaged their homes.

On Monday, Nahhas — who was an emergency trauma physician and aid worker in Syria and Turkey before immigrating to the United States in 2019 — listened helplessly as his mother-in-law described during a short telephone call how she and her husband had been sheltering in their car since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck early Monday.

They had escaped while debris was falling around them, he said. “She was crying,” Nahhas said. “She was saying: ‘What can we do? Are we going to stay in the car? And for how long?’”

Nahhas, now a researcher for Physicians for Human Rights, had few solid answers — much like the Turkish government, which is stretched thin by the devastation.

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By: Antonio Olivo

11:02 PM: Why it’s so hard to predict an earthquake

© Alice Martins for The Washington Post Rescue workers and Turkish army soldiers search for survivors on a collapsed residential building.

Houses crumbled and buildings flattened within seconds of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria early Monday morning, leaving rescue workers scrambling to find survivors among the dead.

The horror of the near-instantaneous destruction raises a question: Why didn’t anyone know the earthquake was coming?

The answer is tricky. The ability to predict where and when an earthquake will occur has eluded earth scientists for years, though the stakes couldn’t be higher. Earthquakes account for nearly half of all deaths from natural disasters over almost two decades, according to the World Health Organization.

Many geologists say it’s nearly impossible to perfectly predict an earthquake, due to the sheer complexity of analyzing the entirety of the planet’s crust. Others say that a slew of new technology — including artificial intelligence, which may help make predictions faster and more precise, and smartphones, which can instantly send alerts and warn people to find shelter — can help save lives.

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By: Pranshu Verma

11:01 PM: More than 7,800 people rescued, state media reports

© Alice Martins/FTWP Displaced people in Sanliurfa sit in the lobby of the Hilton hotel. (Photo by Alice Martins for The Washington Post)

SANLIURFA, Turkey — As night fell, residents and rescue crews continued to dig for people trapped under buildings that had collapsed on them as they slept. More than 7,800 people were rescued Monday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, quoting Turkey’s vice president.

Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning and said his government was coordinating aid offers from other countries, including Russia and some European nations.

“I wish God’s mercy on our citizens who lost their lives in this great disaster, and a speedy recovery to our wounded,” Erdogan said in an address Monday. “I hope we will leave these disastrous days behind in unity and solidarity as a country and nation.”

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By: Kareem Fahim, Louisa Loveluck, Sarah Dadouch, Zeynep Karatas and Carolyn Y. Johnson