Istanbul, Europe Brief News – The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes has passed 21,500.
At least 18,342 people have been killed in Turkey, according to the country’s officials — surpassing the toll from the devastating 1999 earthquake in that country.
At least 3,377 people are known to have died in Syria, while hope of finding survivors is dwindling.
Operations to find people alive continued on Friday in both countries.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has said it is running out of stock in opposition-held northwest Syria and appealed for more corridors between Syria and Turkey to be opened.
“We have reached the people there, but we need to replenish our stocks,” Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Eastern Europe, told reporters. “We are running out of stocks and we need access to bring new stocks in. The border crossing is open now, but we need to get new border crossings open.”
Currently, the UN only has one approved crossing between the two countries – Bab al-Hawa. The UN said on Thursday its first convoy had crossed into Syria on Thursday, after being delayed by damage.
Turkish government has said it has authorised aid to go through two additional crossings, but UN officials have said Bab al-Hawa remained the only viable route.
