Summary
As the time approaches 2am in Turkey and Syria, here is a round-up of today’s news after Monday’s earthquake, as the death toll has passed 21,000.
The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria from Monday’s devastating earthquake rose to at least 21,o00 after officials and medics in Turkey said 17,674 people had died in the country and figures published by the Syrian White Helmets group said 3,377 people had died in Syria.
Aid has been announced for Turkey and Syria. The World Bank will provide $1.78bn to Turkey. Meanwhile the US will send $85m (£70.1m) in aid for Turkey and Syria. Immediate assistance of $780m (£643m) will be offered via Contingent Emergency Response Components from two existing projects in Turkey, said the bank. Countries including France and Germany have also sent money and support, as has Greece, which has had long-term disputes with Turkey.
At least 28,044 people have been evacuated from Kahramanmaraş, one of the southern Turkish provinces hardest hit by Monday’s earthquake, including 23,437 by air and 4,607 by road and rail, Turkey’s disaster management agency said.
Rescuers continued to pull people who have been trapped for days out of the rubble, including a young girl trapped for three days.
Turkey’s disaster management agency, AHAD, said it has recorded almost 650 aftershocks since two earthquakes – 7.8 and 7.6 in magnitude – struck, making rescue efforts even more difficult and dangerous as emergency teams comb through severely weakened buildings.
A Reuters report shed light on how hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by the quake are being housed in banks of tents erected in stadiums and shattered city centres, while Mediterranean and Aegean beach resorts outside the quake zone are opening up hotel rooms for evacuees.
World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is on his way to Syria, where the WHO is part of the response. The UN will dispatch its aid chief, Martin Griffiths, to Gaziantep, in Turkey, and Aleppo and Damascus, in Syria, this weekend.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has spoken to Turkey’s finance minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, about how the US can provide assistance in Turkey and Syria. US state department spokesperson Ned Price said the US would continue to demand unhindered humanitarian access to Syria and urged Bashar al-Assad’s government to immediately allow aid through all border crossings.
If you would like to donate in support of the rescue effort, lots of charities are desperately seeking extra funds to provide urgently needed medical and humanitarian assistance in Turkey and Syria. You can find out how to donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee – coordinating the response on behalf of 14 UK charities – here, or another list of charities accepting donations is here.
That’s all for today. Thank you for following along. You can read the rest of our coverage of the earthquake here.
Updated
Death toll rises to more than 21,000
The death toll from Monday’s earthquake on both sides of the border in Turkey and Syria is now more than 21,000.
Officials and medics said 17,674 people had died in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 21,051, Agency France Presse reports.
It comes after the White Helmets said on Twitter, that at least 2,030 people have been killed with more than 2,950 injured. Earlier on Thursday the death toll in the rebel-held area was 1,900.
