Media reports, citing officials, say more than 37,000 people are dead after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6.
ABC News reports that the earthquake death toll has now climbed to at least 37,357 in Turkiye and Syria.
ABC News says that according to the latest figures from the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, at least 31,643 people have been killed in southeastern Turkiye alone.
Turkish authorities have reportedly issued at least 113 arrest warrants as of Monday in connection with the construction of buildings that collapsed in southeastern Turkiye last week during the massive earthquake and powerful aftershocks.
The warrants are targeting contractors who are allegedly linked to the collapsed buildings.
According to combined figures from the Syrian Ministry of Health and the Syrian Civil Defense, a Syrian volunteer organization also known as the White Helmets, and medical group that operates in opposition-held areas, at least 5,714 people were killed in both government- and rebel-controlled areas of northwestern Syria,
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported today that the death toll from last week’s earthquakes has topped 36,000, with 31,643 people killed in Turkiye and a further 4,614 dead in Syria.
According to ABC News, the White Helmets announced in a statement on February10 that after 108 hours of work, its first responders have ceased search and rescue operations and have shifted to search and recovery in earthquake-devastated northwestern Syria.
According to the United Nations, Syria has opened two more border crossings from Turkiye for the next three months to help with the influx of humanitarian aid.
Media reports say Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to let the United Nations deliver aid to rebel-held parts of northwest Syria through two more border crossings from Turkiye.
“Delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement. “Opening these crossing points — along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs — will allow more aid to go in, faster.”
Currently, the UN has reportedly been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area only through a single crossing at Bab al-Hawa.
