Screams could be heard from people trapped under the rubble and relatives crying for loved ones on Tuesday night as the death toll in Turkey and neighboring northwestern Syria rose to more than 3,700.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck both countries early Monday, collapsing entire apartment blocks, ravaging hospitals, and leaving thousands injured or homeless.
Bitterly cold weather hampered efforts to search for survivors throughout the night into Tuesday.
A woman’s cry for help could be heard under a pile of rubble in the southern province of Hatay. The dead body of an innocent girl was lying half-burnt nearby.
Crying in the rain, a local resident, who gave his name as Deniz, folded his hands in despair.
“They are making noise but no one is coming,” he said. “We’re devastated, we’re devastated. Oh God… they’re calling out. They’re saying, ‘Save us,’ but we can’t save them. How are we going to save them? From morning nobody is here.”
Overnight temperatures reached near freezing, making conditions worse for those trapped under the rubble or left homeless.
In Kahramanmaras, north of Hatay, entire families gather around fires and wrap themselves in blankets to stay warm.
“We barely got out of the house,” said Neset Guler, huddled around the fire with her four children. “Our situation is a disaster. We are hungry, we are thirsty. It is pathetic.”
The strongest earthquake recorded worldwide by the US Geological Survey since an earthquake in the remote South Atlantic in August 2021, which was followed by several aftershocks.