At least 12,873 people have died in Turkey, and at least 3,162 have died in Syria, according to authorities.
As hope for survivors is rapidly diminishing, residents in the southeast of Turkey and the northwest of Syria are criticizing what they say are ineffective search and rescue efforts.
Despite the bitter weather, rescue teams are still rescuing people alive from the debris despite the fact that search efforts continue for a fourth day.
72 hours after the devastating earthquakes, hope turns to despair in Turkey and Syria. While rescuers continue to work frantically to save survivors from the rubble of collapsed buildings, the chances of finding many more people alive are rapidly fading more than 72 hours after the quakes.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Resul Serdar is in Kahramanmaras, one of the hardest-hit areas, where he provided the most recent update. Tensions are running high as rescuers race against time.
Standing in front of a collapsed building, he said, “Just an hour ago, two bodies have been pulled out of the rubble.”
Serdar stated, “The rescue team has held blankets to cover those bodies so that the families do not see those troubling images.”
“The people here are very sad. There is a lot of tension. The feelings are strong. No one has survived the rubble in the last 24 hours, he continued.