The death toll from the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 has climbed above 21,000 in four days, exceeding the World Health Organization’s estimate of 20,000. But it continues to rise by the hour as more grim discoveries are made under the rubble.
Search-and-rescue efforts are well under way in Turkey after an initially slow response, but have yet to really take off in northern Syria. Syrians in rebel-controlled areas were kept waiting for help due political tensions and shattered infrastructure following the earthquake and more than ten years of conflict.
So far, nobody knows how many people are still stuck under the rubble. Ovgun Ahmet Ercan, a Turkish earthquake expert, told The Economist he had estimated that 180,000 people or more may be trapped under the rubble, nearly all of them dead.
