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

The European Union has sent more than 1,150 rescue workers, along with some 70 dogs, in response to the quake. The teams come from 19 European countries, according to the EU Commission, reported Bloomberg.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has spoken with Syria's Bashar al-Assad offering his full support for earthquake relief efforts, Egypt's presidency said on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

210 victims have been handed over to their families, and there are other victims awaiting identification by their families and the prosecution and investigation judges who are on alert, Syrian public attorney Al-Watan Online.

Erdogan said that 70 countries had offered help in search and rescue operations and that Turkey planned to open up hotels in the tourism hub of Antalya, to the west, to temporarily house people impacted by the quakes.

He said the death toll in Turkey had risen to 3,549 people.

“For the emergency aid and support, we have allocated a resource of 100 billion liras at the disposal of our institutions in the first place”, Turkish president Erdogan.

50 billion Syrian pounds are allocated as an initial amount to finance the emergency operations undertaken to deal with the effects of the devastating earthquake that struck the country.

President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared as a disaster zone the 10 provinces affected by the devastating earthquakes in southern Turkey, imposing a state of emergency in the region for three months. Read more

53,317 search and rescue staff and support personnel currently working in earthquake zone, says Turkish President Erdogan.

The Syrian Red Crescent on Tuesday appealed to Western countries to lift sanctions and provide aid after a powerful earthquake has killed more than 1,600 people across the war-torn country, reports AFP. Read more

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday called on Russia to help pressure Syria into allowing humanitarian aid into the country for victims of Monday's deadly earthquakes quickly and without additional obstacles, reports Reuters.

"All international actors, including Russia, should exert their pressure on the Syrian regime to ensure humanitarian help for victims can arrive," said Baerbock during a news conference in Berlin with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirsojan.

Turkish and Kurdish communities in Germany have launched donation drives to send aid. Levent Cukur has coordinated an aid drive in the boxing gym he runs in Munich.

"We didn't expect it to go this crazy, it's mad. We thought we would fill two vans and then send them off but it hasn't stopped since 10 this morning."

The Turkish government is scrambling to house people forced into the street after their homes either collapsed or were too risky to stay in because of the aftershocks.

Hundreds of thousands spent the night in dormitories, schools, mosques and other public buildings, while others sheltered in hotels that opened their doors for free.

Across the region, rescuers toiled through the night and into the morning searching for survivors as people waited in anguish by mounds of rubble, clinging to the hope that friends and relatives might be found alive.

A state government foundation has issued helpline numbers for non-resident Rajasthanis (NRR) seeking assistance in the earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria, reports PTI.

Those seeking help can reach the foundation at: 91 83060 09838, 0141-2229111 and 011-23070807.

"We have launched these helpline numbers to ensure that no NRR goes unattended during this crisis. The foundation will coordinate to provide assistance to those affected by the disaster," Rajasthan Foundation Commissioner Dhiraj Srivastava said.

Countries around the world including India, US, China, Britain, European Union have mobilised rapidly to send aid and rescue workers after a massive earthquake killed more than 5,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

A victim, Nurgul Atay told The Associated Press she could hear her mother's voice beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the city of Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, but that her and others efforts to get into the ruins had been futile without any rescue crews and heavy equipment to help.

“If only we could lift the concrete slab we'd be able to reach her,” she said. “My mother is 70-years-old, she won't be able to withstand this for long.”

The UN's cultural agency UNESCO said on Tuesday it was ready to provide assistance after two sites listed on its World Heritage list in Syria and Turkey sustained damage in the devastating earthquake, reports AFP.

As well as the damage to the old city of Syria's Aleppo and the fortress in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, UNESCO said at least three other World Heritage sites could be affected.

"Our organisation will provide assistance within its mandate," said UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay.

In the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, survivors of the massive quake that has wreaked death, destruction and havoc on the region face an invisible but powerful threat -- hunger, reports AFP.

As the morning sun illuminates the sky, Sanliurfa's cracked streets look empty. The mercury is only just above freezing, but it feels much colder.

Turkish and Kurdish communities in Germany have launched donation drives to send money, warm clothes and blankets to victims of a devastating earthquake that tore through Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, reports Reuters.

Germany has around 2.3 million people of Turkish origin, the largest Turkish diaspora community in the world, according to the Turkish Community in Germany.

Germany will provide an additional million euros to the Malteser International aid group and is working to make more financial aid available to other humanitarian partners helping quake victims in Syria, said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, reports Reuters.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin on Tuesday with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirsojan, Baerbock added that Germany is also pushing for humanitarian access to Syria.

The rescue wokers said that urgent help was needed from international groups for the rescue effort by the organisation known as the White Helmets in rebel-held northwest Syria, where hundreds were killed and injured.

"Every second means saving lives and we call on all humanitarian organisations to give material aid and respond to this catastrophe urgently," Raed al-Saleh, a rescue worker told Reuters.