Syria, Turkey earthquake death toll passes 35,000

Survivors in Turkey and Syria on Saturday began to bury the victims of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the border on Monday.  They marked the graves less than three feet apart with simple wooden signs. Turkey will start rebuilding as soon as possible, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. He added that the government would take action against looters. Some Turkish people, including Erdogan’s political opposition, have criticized him for a slow aid response. The president has acknowledged some problems but said the situation is under control.

How long is the rescue window? Entire families were still being pulled from the rubble on Saturday. But the likelihood of finding survivors drops dramatically between five and seven days after a disaster, said Dr. Jarone Lee, an emergency and disaster medicine expert at Massachusetts General Hospital. Rescue teams have started using heat-sensing radar to find trapped people who are too weak to cry out. Some groups have stopped rescue efforts, saying the risk to rescuers is too high compared to the chance of finding a survivor.

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