Turkey-Syria earthquake highlights: Turkish president acknowledges 'shortcomings' in quake response. reports AFP

Over 11,000 people have been killed so far due to powerful earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, reported news agency AP.

A leading United Nations official on Wednesday called for the facilitation of aid access to rebel-held areas in Syria's northwest, warning that relief stocks will soon be depleted.

Rebel-held areas near Turkey's border -- hard hit by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on Monday -- cannot receive aid from government-held parts of Syria without Damascus's authorisation.

"Put politics aside and let us do our humanitarian work," the UN's resident Syria coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih said in an interview with AFP, warning: "We can't afford to wait and negotiate. By the time we negotiate, it's done, it's finished."

Doctor Mohamad Zitoun spent years treating casualties from the Syrian war but has never experienced anything like the number of injured and the scale of their injuries following Monday's devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has acknowledged there were ‘shortcomings’ in response to the earthquake which has left 9,057 dead in his country, AFP reported.

Turkish president acknowledges 'shortcomings' in quake response. reports AFP.

Twitter became inaccessible on major Turkish mobile providers on Wednesday as online criticism mounted of the government's response to this week's deadly earthquake.

AFP reporters were unable to access the social media network in Turkey. The netblocks.org social media monitor said Twitter was being restricted "on multiple internet providers in Turkey".

More than 298,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to this week's deadly earthquake, Syrian state media reported, in an apparent reference to the parts of Syria under government control, not those held by other factions.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that one Indian was missing, and ten others are currently stuck in remote parts of Turkey, after a deadly earthquake hit the country Monday, leading to the death of 8,754 people, news agency PTI reported.

Buildings fell like packs of cards and many people, rendered homeless by a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake and several powerful aftershocks in Turkiye, died due to freezing temperatures, an anguished Kubra Halici said from Istanbul.

An architectural history scholar, the Turkish national said, "Though we were far from the epicentre, we felt the shocks."

PTI reached her through social media, and she said, "I and my family members are safe but my country is torn to pieces."

Death toll rises above 11,200 in Turkey, Syria quake, AFP reported.

Massive earthquakes in Turkey will add billions of dollars of spending to Ankara's budget and cut economic growth by up two percentage points this year, officials and economists said, as the government faces huge rebuilding ahead of tight elections.

Pope Francis offered his prayers for the thousands of victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey on Wednesday and called on the international community to continue to support rescue and recovery efforts.

"I am praying for them with emotion and I wanted to say that I am close to these people, to the families of the victims and everyone who is suffering from this devastating disaster," he said

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives to the region where a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit.

A fresh team of 51 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel is being rushed to earthquake-hit Turkiye even as two teams present there have launched rescue operations at multiple collapsed structures, Director General of the force Atul Karwal was quoted by news agency PTI.

The third team of the federal contingency force has already been airlifted from Varanasi to Delhi and the rescuers are expected to leave for the disaster-struck nation by tonight on board an IAF plane, he said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is working on the assumption general elections will be held in Turkey three months from now despite twin earthquakes devastating much of the southeast this week, Bloomberg reported.

Erdogan, who is facing one of the toughest electoral races of his two decades in power, announced 90 days of emergency rule on Tuesday. It allows him to take swift security and financial measures in the areas stricken by the disaster, which has killed more than 6,000 people in Turkey. Parliament is expected to approve the move Wednesday.

The death toll from the earthquake in southern Turkey and northern Syria has climbed past 9,500, making it the deadliest seismic event in more than a decade.

Turkish authorities updated the country’s death toll to 6,957 on Wednesday. In neighboring Syria, the government has reported 1,250 deaths from Monday’s pre-dawn earthquake in the areas it controls. The White Helmets, volunteer first responders in a rebel-held enclave, have reported 1,280 deaths.

More than 30,000 people have been injured, and authorities expect the death toll to continue to climb as rescue workers race to pull survivors from the rubble in cities and towns across a wide area.

The death toll from a massive quake that struck Turkey and Syria rose to more than 9,500 on Wednesday, official data showed, with rescuers racing to reach trapped survivors for a third day.

Japan has sent 73 rescue personnel to Turkey with equipment such as life detectors, drills, portable generators, medical kits and food.

The death toll in Turkey from earthquakes in its south rose to 6,234 by Wednesday morning, the Disaster Management Authority (AFAD) said.

The number of those injured rose to 37,011, the agency said, adding that more than 79,000 personnel were engaged in search and rescue operations.

The death toll in Syria from a devastating earthquake has surpassed 2,500, according to Syrian state media and a rescue service operating in the insurgent-held northwest.

The White Helmets rescue team said on Twitter the casualty toll in insurgent-held areas has risen to more than 1,280 deaths and more than 2,600 injured.

Afghanistan's Taliban administration will send around $165,000 in aid to Turkey and Syria to help the response to a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck this week, according to a foreign ministry statement.

Another earthquake of magnitude 4.3 jolted Nurdagi district, a city in Gaziantep Province of Turkey on Wednesday.

The quake was reported around 8:31 am at a depth of 10 km, 15 km south of Nurdagi at the location, 37.032°N 36.721°E, reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that time is running out for the thousands injured and those still feared trapped.

China has already committed to give a first tranche of 40 million yuan ($5.9 million) in emergency aid to Turkey.