Turkey, Syria earthquake highlights: Death toll surpasses 7,000-mark amid search for more survivors

Time is running out to save hundreds of families trapped under the rubble of buildings brought down by Monday's earthquake, the head of the Syrian opposition-run civil defence service said on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

The United Nations children's agency said on Tuesday that the earthquake and aftershocks that destroyed scores of buildings in Turkey and Syria may have killed thousands of children.

"The earthquakes that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria early yesterday morning may have killed thousands of children," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters at a briefing in Geneva.

He added the organisation could not determine a specific death toll of children.

Trading on the Istanbul stock market was halted for a second time on Tuesday as a market-wide circuit breaker kicked in following heavy losses in the wake of Monday's devastating earthquake in Turkey and neighbouring Syria, reports Reuters.

The second circuit-breaker was issued at 1004 GMT, with the benchmark BIST-100 index down 7.01% and the banking index down 6.41%. On Monday, the BIST-100 tumbled as much as 4.99% before circuit breakers came into effect, suspending trading in dozens of shares, and trading volumes remained at a fraction of last week's average at 21 billion lira ($1.12 billion), according to a research note from Ziraat Yatirim.

"It is now a race against time," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, explaining that the UN health agency was urgently sending aid to the area.

“We're mobilising emergency supplies and we have activated the WHO network of emergency medical teams to provide essential health care for the injured and most vulnerable”, reports AFP.

India to send medical supplies to Syria today in an Indian Air Force C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft today: Defence officials, reports ANI.

Structural engineers, soldiers, paramedics and handlers with trained search dogs are heading to Turkey and Syria to help locate and rescue survivors of Monday’s earthquake, reports AP.

Weeping in the rain, a resident who gave his name as Deniz wrung his hands in despair.

"They're making noises but nobody is coming," he said. "We're devastated, we're devastated. My God ... They're calling out. They're saying, 'Save us' but we can't save them. How are we going to save them? There has been nobody since the morning."

Families slept in cars lined up in the streets, reports Reuters.

Turkish authorities say some 13.5 million people were affected in an area spanning roughly 450 km from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east, and 300 km from Malatya in the north to Hatay in the south, reports Reuters.

Overwhelmed rescuers struggled to save people trapped under the rubble as the death toll from a devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria rose past 5,000 on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

The temperature was close to freezing as the rain came down and there was no electricity or fuel in the city.

The Indian aviation regulator has held a meeting with Indian carriers over operating flights to Turkey for cargo movements in commercial scheduled flights, reports ANI

IndiGo has offered free cargo movement on its scheduled commercial flights using Boeing 777 aircraft to Istanbul.

Ghana national player and former Newcastle midfielder Christian Atsu has been found alive in the rubble of an earthquake that killed more than 4,800 people in Turkey and neighbouring Syria, Ghana's ambassador to Turkey said Tuesday.

While rescue teams are scrambling to find survivors trapped under debris after a series of massive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, some heart-wrenching videos of children and their parents have emerged on social media claiming to be from the disaster-struck countries.

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23 million people could be affected by quake in Turkey, Syria, says World Health Body. 

"Event overview maps show that potentially 23 million people are exposed, including around five million vulnerable populations," the World Health Organization's senior emergencies officer Adelheid Marschang said.

Turkey ordered the resumption of crude-oil flows to the Ceyhan export terminal on the Mediterranean coast, according to an official with direct knowledge of the matter, reports Bloomberg.

State pipeline operator Botas had halted flows to the facility as a precaution on Monday morning, after the first of two massive earthquakes shook the region.

Rescue operations are focusing on those three provinces and Malatya, Oktay said, reports Reuters.

Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said the total number of deaths in Turkey had risen to 3,419, with another 20,534 people injured, reports AP

Total death toll surpasses 5,000 in Turkey and Syria from Earthquake, after Turkey declares 3,419 dead, reports Reuters

Second flight having a commander, 50 rescuers, one NDRF doctor, paramedics & rescuers left for #Turkey, from Hindon Airbase, Ghaziabad, at 11 am today, as India extends help to the earthquake-marred nation amid death toll there reaching 5,000.

So far, 11,000 buildings have been reported damaged in Turkey, said Tatar. Nearly 25,000 emergency responders are working at scenes impacted, reported CNN.

At least 1,602 people were killed and thousands injured in Syria following a number of deadly earthquakes and aftershocks in neighbouring Turkey, authorities and rescuers said on Tuesday.

Rescuers raced Tuesday to find survivors in the rubble of thousands of buildings brought down by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and multiple aftershocks that struck eastern Turkey and neighboring Syria, with the discovery of more bodies raising the death toll to 4,983.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.7 struck eastern Trukey on Tuesday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

The quake was at a depth of 46 km (28.58 miles), the centre added.

India will send two more C-17 Indian Air Force planes to Turkey later this evening with 60 Para Field Hospital and personnel to assist in rescue and relief operations.

According to defence officials, the Agra-based Army Field Hospital has despatched an 89-member medical team.