Turkey

Some teams have started debris removal work, while emergency teams intensified efforts to provide necessities such as medical help, food and shelter for survivors, Xinhua news agency reported. About 238,500 search and rescue personnel are working in the field, and more than 158,000 people have been evacuated from the quake-hit regions so far, Turkey's disaster agency said on Monday.

The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey has climbed to 29,605, the country's disaster agency was quoted by the Anadolu Agency as saying, bringing the total fatalities with neighbouring Syria to over 33,000, with tens of thousands injured. Rescue efforts The first batch of emergency aid, including tents and blankets, delivered by the Chinese government for earthquake relief has arrived in Turkey on Saturday.

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.

"On Saturday evening, earthquake relief material and equipment were sent to Syria and Turkey onboard another IAF C-17 aircraft. After offloading relief material at Damascus, the flight will head towards Adana," said a MEA official. "Flight is carrying 35 tonnes of humanitarian assistance, relief material, medical aid, emergency & critical care medicines, medical equipment and consumables," said the official.

"What happened here on Monday, the epicentre of the earthquake, was the worst event in 100 years in this region," Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told reporters in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras on Saturday. More than 100 countries have sent emergency response teams to Turkey, but "we're going to need more than that," Griffiths said.

With elections on the horizon, his future is on the line after 20 years in power and his pleas for national unity have gone unheeded, BBC reported .Erdogan has admitted shortcomings in the response, but he appeared to blame fate on a visit to one disaster zone: "Such things have always happened. It's part of destiny's plan."Turkey lies on two fault lines.

In its latest update, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said the overall death toll currently stood at 20,318, with 80,052 reported injuries, Anadolu News Agency reported. The 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes, centred in the Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across the provinces of Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.

The death toll from the earthquakes climbed to 17,674 in Turkey, with 72,879 injuries, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Thursday. In Syria, 1,678 people were killed in government-held areas, and the death toll in the opposition-held region stood at 2,190, according to media reports. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Turkey's southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4:17 a.m. local time.

In its latest update on Thursday, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said the death toll currently stood at 12,873, while the number of injured persons shot up to 62,937, reports Anadolu News Agency. The victims and the widespread damages have been reported from the 10 regions of Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir.