Media reports say the death toll from the Turkiye-Syria earthquakes has climbed above 15,000 as rescuers race to save survivors trapped under debris in freezing weather.
Citing Turkiye’s Disaster Management Authority (AFAD), Turkish state news agency Anadolu Agency (AA) reported early Thursday that 12,391 people have died in Turkey alone from the quake.
Deutsche Welle (DW) reports that Syria's health ministry has calculated the death toll in government controlled areas in Syria at more than 1,200. The White Helmets responders group based in Syria's rebel controlled region in the northwest said at least 1,600 people had died.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported today that 2,992 people have died in Syria, bringing the confirmed total to 15,383.
The Syrian Civil Defense group reportedly continued search operations through the night in rebel-held parts of Syria as the rescue effort neared the 72-hour mark that disaster experts consider the most likely period to save lives.
The White Helmets group says hundreds of people remain trapped in the rubble in the town of Jandires in the province of Aleppo, according to Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Syrians denounce failed aid response after devastating quake. While countries from around the world have sent rescue teams and supplies to quake-stricken Turkiye, little of that help has arrived in rebel-held parts of northwestern Syria, residents there were cited by Al Jazeera as saying.
According to them, not a single humanitarian convoy has crossed the border until now.
Recall, Adelheid Marschang, World Health Organization (WHO) senior emergency officer, has warned about the situation in Syria, which is already facing a multi-year humanitarian crisis due to war and a cholera outbreak.
In this regard, Marschang denounced U.S. politicization in delivering humanitarian aid to the country following Monday's devastating earthquake in Turkiye and Syria and its strong aftershocks.
According to the United Nations (UN), some 14.6 million Syrians were dependent on humanitarian aid as of May last year.
