Turkey and Syria earthquake death toll tops 38,000

The death toll from the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria passed 38,000 as only a handful of survivors were pulled from the rubble more than a week after the disasters that devastated swaths of both countries. 

 

Turkey’s disaster agency said around 32,000 had been recorded killed in the country. Rebel-held northwest Syria: More than 4,400 people have died in this region, according to the UN relief agency, OCHA. Government-held Syria: At least 1,414 people have died in areas controlled by al-Assad’s forces, according to health officials. The death toll was expected to climb.

 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to let the UN deliver aid to rebel-held parts of northwest Syria through two more border crossings from Turkey, Al Jazeera reports.