Earthquake

Flags will fly at half-mast on all public facilities during the national mourning, according to a statement released by the Royal Office after Moroccan King Mohammed VI chaired a meeting on the disaster, Xinhua news agency reported.

Morocco's Interior Ministry said in a statement that the fatalities were reported from the provinces and municipalities of Al-Haouz, Marrakesh, Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre was in the High Atlas Mountains, 71 km south-west of Marrakesh, at a depth of 18.5 km, the BBC reported.

According to the US Geological Survey, Tuesday night's earthquake struck 40 km southeast of Jurm town in Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province. It was 187.6 km deep, reports CNN. Of the five fatalities, two were reported in Afghanistan's Laghman province, where at least eight more people were also injured, according to Shafiullah.

The 16-year-old earthquake victim was playing ping-pong with newly acquainted friends who are also from the disaster zone in a relief center of the capital city Ankara's Mamak district. The center is part of a residential complex of flats that is now home to around 3,500 earthquake survivors.

"This understanding of cooperation can contribute to our ongoing normalization process," Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in the Turkish capital Ankara, Xinhua news agency reported. Cavusoglu also thanked Armenia for sending search and rescue teams to save quake victims and delivering humanitarian aid immediately after Turkey was rocked by the strong tremors.

"At least 35,418 people have been killed in the twin quakes and 13,208 injured are still receiving treatment in our hospitals," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying Anadolu News Agency. Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said 195,962 people have been evacuated.

The catastrophe may also have an impact on international relations. Countries at odds with Turkey and Syria have rallied in solidarity with the two quake-hit countries, sending batches of aid and rescue teams, Xinhua news agency reported. However, it's unclear whether this dynamic will continue when the disaster has passed or whether new understandings and bridges will be established.

The number of wounded, meanwhile, rose to more than 80,000 in Turkey and 2,349 in Syria, according to official figures released on Sunday. Turkey has issued arrest warrants for 134 suspects involved in the faulty construction of buildings that collapsed in the earthquakes, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Sunday. Three of the suspects were arrested.

The rescue operations, which were paused on Saturday after two unidentified groups clashed, resumed after Turkish army stepped in to offer protection, BBC reported. Nearly 50 people have been arrested for looting ration at gun point, local media reported. As food supply is dwindling, security is expected to worsen, BBC quoted a rescuer as saying.