Death toll above 21,000 after quake in Syria, Turkey

Rescue teams are running out of time to find people alive in Turkey and Syria on Thursday after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the countries’ border on Monday. At least 70,000 have been injured and hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes. Some refugees have taken shelter in mosques, schools, and government shelters, UN officials said. Other refugees are trying to stay warm by fires. The UN’s World Food Program said it gave ready-to-eat meals, family food packages, and hot meals to 64,000 people in “urgent” need of food in both countries. 

What’s happening in rebel-held Syria? The first trucks providing shelter items and non-food items arrived in rebel-held Syria on Thursday. The trucks were scheduled to leave from Turkey before the quake hit, but the UN is only allowed to use one road into rebel-held Syria, and that road was damaged. Fresh snow in Syria on Wednesday made it harder for survivors to stay warm and rescuers to get to victims, the UN said.

Dig deeper: Read Sharon Dierberger and Onize Ohikere’s report in WORLD Magazine on agencies trying to get aid to the region.