Around 23m lives – including those of 1.4m children – were blighted by the disaster, says the World Health OrganisationFears that the final death toll may reach 20,0

Around 23m lives – including those of 1.4m children – were blighted by the disaster, says the World Health Organisation

Fears that the final death toll may reach 20,000 have prompted rescue teams to work quickly to locate any survivors of the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria.

Worldwide search teams have dispersed across the vast area that has been leveled by the tremors, along with nearly 25,000 Turkish rescue workers. Although rain, snow, and freezing temperatures at night have hampered search efforts, leaving some areas without assistance thus far.

The World Health Organization (WHO) projects that the earthquakes could have a direct impact on 23 million people in both nations, including 1.4 million children. Unicef also thinks that thousands of children may be among the fatalities.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, stated in Geneva that "it's now a race against time." The likelihood of discovering survivors alive decreases with each minute and hour that passes.

According to Catherine Smallwood, the senior emergency officer for Europe for the WHO, the death toll increases "substantially" in the week following disasters and might exceed 20,000.

The locals were compelled to attempt to save their kin from the collapsed buildings that were all around them. To provide information about their whereabouts, many who are stuck have started crying out or sending phone messages.

In the Turkish hamlet of Nurdag, Ali Silo, whose two relatives could not be saved, claimed, "We could hear their voices, they were pleading for help." In the end, the recovery of the bodies and those of the other two victims fell to Silo, a Syrian who had moved to the area ten years earlier from Hama, and other locals.

A woman was heard pleading for assistance behind a mound of rubble in Antakya, the Turkish city that serves as the provincial seat of Hatay, which is close to the Syrian border. A local named Deniz clutched his fists in despair while sobbing in the rain.

“They’re making noises but nobody is coming,” the man 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.”

There have been several accounts of people of various ages being rescued from the rubble of their former homes, even a newborn.

By Tuesday afternoon, 8,000 people had reportedly been extricated from the wreckage, according to Turkey. The number of fatalities in Turkey and Syria swiftly surpassed 7,200 during the day, with the majority occurring in southern Turkish provinces. The World Health Organization stated that there were several places in both countries where there was still no information, so that number is only anticipated to increase.

According to Turkish authorities, 13.5 million people in a region 280 miles long (from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east) and 190 miles wide (from Malatya in the north to Hatay in the south) were impacted. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of the nation, has proclaimed a state of emergency in the affected 10 Turkish regions for three months. As a result, the president and cabinet will be able to adopt new laws without consulting parliament and restrict or restrict rights and freedoms.

Rescue workers in opposition-held areas of the northwest have suggested that there may be hundreds of people trapped under the wreckage. Syrian officials have recorded dead as far south as Hama, some 60 miles from the epicenter.

Other countries have also reported missing persons, with the UK stating that three British citizens' whereabouts are unclear and that several dozen other people who have been directly impacted are receiving care.

Thousands of people congregated in both countries' temporary emergency shelters or mosques that had opened their doors to the needy. Some others slept in their cars, while others gathered in malls, stadiums, or community centers. Some people camped out outside in blankets during the course of the night.

Since the initial powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the 7.5 magnitude quake that occurred mere hours later, many have seen their houses devastated or are too terrified to return due to the possibility of aftershocks. Those aftershocks have occasionally been as powerful as magnitude 6.

According to Turkish vice president Fuat Oktay, some 380,000 individuals in Turkey have sought refuge in hotels or shelters run by the government. To provide temporary housing for those affected by the earthquakes, the Turkish government aims to expand the number of hotels in Antalya, a popular tourist destination to the west. Many folks are still dressed as they were when the first earthquake occurred on Monday at 4 a.m. local time.

Rami Araba is in Gaziantep and works for the humanitarian organization CARE International. He explains from a shelter, "There is no water, and we are outside in the snow in the bitter cold. Everyone is afraid that the following building will collapse because of the intense aftershocks, therefore nobody dares to enter it again.

“The number of affected people is extremely high. Nobody is asking if you are Turkish or Syrian, it doesn't matter now. There are students, people of different nationalities and we are all in shock.”

Syria's long-term condition is particularly dire because of the devastation brought on by years of fighting there. Several localities have been leveled by repeated shelling by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while infrastructure like hospitals and shelters are already overburdened in opposition-held regions of the country's northwest. The Syrian government has been accused of using humanitarian aid for political purposes. Bassam Sabbagh, the ambassador of Syria to the UN, has stated that all humanitarian supplies should enter the country from outside of government-controlled areas.

In the Syrian city of Hama, Abdallah al Dahan said funerals for several families were taking place on Tuesday.

“It’s a terrifying scene in every sense,” he told Reuters. “In my whole life, I haven’t seen anything like this, despite everything that has happened to us.”

Keep on praying for our brothers and sisters that are located in Italy and for those that partake in the  incident for quick recovery.

20,000 feared dead in earthquake carnage as rescuers race against time to save trapped victims

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