On Monday, a massive earthquake killed over 4,400 people across Turkey and northwest Syria, with freezing winter weather compounding the plight of the thousands left injured or homeless and hampering efforts to find survivors.
The magnitude 7.8 quake brought down entire apartment blocks in Turkish cities, adding to the devastation caused by years of war for millions of Syrians.
It happened before sunrise in bad weather and was followed by another large quake in the early afternoon.
A woman speaking next to the wreckage of the seven-story building where she lived in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, said: ‘We were tossed around like a cradle. We had nine people at home. My two sons are still in the rubble, and I’m waiting for them.’
She was suffering from a broken arm and facial injuries.
‘It felt like the end of the world,’ said Abdul Salam al-Mahmoud, a Syrian living in the northern town of Atareb. ‘It’s bitterly cold and raining heavily, and people need to be saved.’
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