Turkey-Syria earthquake Live Updates | Death toll surges past 11,000 in Turkey-Syria quake

Cemeteries in earthquake-affected region of Turkey were under stress as survivors scrambled to lay their kins to rest.

The mayor of Gaziantep -- a city near quake's epicenter -- Fatma Sahin made an appeal for more Muslim preachers to come forward to help with funerals at cemeteries.

The Indian government on Wednesday confirmed that at least ten Indians were stuck in earthquake-affected areas of Turkey while one was missing.

"We set up a control room in Turkey’s Adana. Ten Indians are stuck in remote parts of affected areas but they are safe. One Indian national who was on a business visit is missing. We’re in touch with his family and the company in Bengaluru which employs him," Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) told mediapersons. 

Following the deadly earthquake, Syria on Wednesday made an official plea to the European Union for help, the bloc's commissioner for crisis management said.

The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday said that it will provide Syria with 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) in emergency humanitarian aid following the deadly earthquake.

The combined death toll in the Turkey-Syria earthquake rose to 11,200 on Wednesday. 

Officials and medics said, around 8,547 people have died in Turkey and 2,662 in Syria. 

The officials also said that nearly 50,000 people were injured in Turkey and some 5,000 in Syria. 

According to AFP news agency, in Turkey's Gaziantep, shops have been closed as there is no heat because gas lines have been cut to avoid explosions. Finding petrol was tough. More than 100 people wrapped in blankets slept in the lounge of an airport terminal, it reports.

“We saw the buildings collapse so we know we are lucky to be alive,” said Zahide Sutcu, who went to the airport with her two small children.

“But now our lives have so much uncertainty. How will I look after these children?”

In Kahramanmaraş, people expressed frustration at the response of emergency services.

“I can’t get my brother back from the ruins. I can’t get my nephew back. Look around here. There is no state official here, for God’s sake,” a local said.

Turkey's stock exchange suspends trading for the first time in 24 years, following a deep selloff triggered by two massive earthquakes, reports Bloomberg.
 

The combined death toll in the Turkey-Syria earthquake rose to more than 9,500 on Wednesday, official said, with rescuers racing to reach trapped survivors for a third day.

Officials and medics said 6,957 people had died in Turkey and 2,547 in Syria, bringing the total to 9,504.

Turkey has raised the death toll from the earhtquake. The figures now stand at 6,234 killed, reports Reuters news agency.

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

The death toll from a massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria rose above 8,300 on Wednesday, official data showed, with rescue workers still searching for trapped survivors. Officials and medics said 5,894 people have died in Turkey and 2,470 in Syria, bringing the total to 8,364.

Though humanitarian aid is being delivered to Turkey in an expedite manner, the same cannot be said about Syria, which is facing sanctions from US and EU countries. 

AP reports that several countries are struggling to route aid directly through the  Bashar Assad-led government. Instead, aid is being sent to Turkey first and then routed to Syria. However damage to roads and other infrastructure in southern Turkey has stalled them from reaching northern Syria.

Emergency workers fear that the delays could cost lives, as local rescue crews struggle to pull families and children from the rubble and find housing for survivors amid brutal winter weather.

A key issue complicating the dispersal of aid is “the war and the way the aid response is split between rebel areas and Damascus,” Aron Lund, a fellow with New York-based think tank Century International who researches Syria, told AP news agency.

According to Syria’s White Helmets, the death toll in rebel-held northwest Syria now stands at 1,220. With the 812 people confirmed dead in government-held areas, the total known toll in Syria reaches 2,032. Whereas Turkey reported at least 5,894 casualties, bringing the overall lives lost to 7,926.