As the first UN supplies arrived in Syrian rebel-held areas on Thursday, the death toll from the enormous earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria continued to rise, surpassing 21,000, while prospects of finding more survivors dwindled.
The head of the World Health Organization announced that he was headed to Syria as the extreme cold made it difficult to sift through thousands of destroyed structures and endangered the lives of many earthquake victims who lack access to shelter and water.
In the southern Turkish city of Antakya, families were left searching through corpse bags placed out in a hospital parking lot for missing loved ones.
Having lost eight family members, Rania Zaboubi, a refugee from Syria, stated, “We found my aunt, but not my uncle.”
