Yesterday, rescuers extracted a two-month-old infant and an elderly woman from the rubble, five days after an earthquake killed more than 28,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
State media said that due to security concerns, 48 people had been arrested for looting or attempting to scam victims in the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey.
Tens of thousands of rescue personnel are still combing through demolished neighbourhoods despite the icy conditions that have exacerbated the plight of millions of people in dire need of assistance.
Incredible survival stories continue to emerge in the face of devastation and hopelessness.
According to a video on official broadcaster TRT Haber, 70-year-old Menekse Tabak exclaimed, "Is the world there?" when she was retrieved from the concrete in the southern city of Kahramanmaras, the epicentre of Monday's 7.8-magnitude earthquake.
According to state news agency Anadolu, a two-month-old infant was discovered in Antakya 128 hours after the earthquake.
Turkish media stated that a two-year-old girl, a six-month-pregnant mother, a four-year-old daughter, and her father were rescued five days after the earthquake.
In the south of Turkey, bereaved relatives clung to one another at a cotton field turned into a cemetery, where an endless stream of the dead arrived for speedy burial.
26 million people affected
The United Nations has warned that at least 870,000 people in Turkey and Syria immediately need hot meals. Up to 5,3 million people may have been rendered homeless in Syria alone.
Nearly 26 million people have been affected by the earthquake, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which yesterday launched an emergency appeal for $42.8 million (RM185 million) to meet the astronomical health demands.
It advised that hundreds of hospitals have sustained damage.
Over 32,000 personnel from Turkish organizations are engaged in search and rescue efforts, according to the Turkish disaster agency. In addition, 8,294 international rescuers exist.
In the gourmet capital of Turkey, the city of Gaziantep, restaurants are working alongside tens of thousands of volunteers to assist and feed people.
The proprietor of a neighbourhood eatery, Burhan Cagdas, stated, "We wish to assist."
"Our coworkers are in a precarious position. Their families are victims, and their homes have been demolished," Cagdas said.
Since Monday, his family has been sleeping in automobiles in a city where at least 2,000 people have perished, and tens of thousands have been forced to abandon hazardous houses.
Their Imam Cagdas restaurant is famed for its Alinazik aubergine and lamb stew, and since the tragedy, they have provided up to 4,000 free meals outdoors daily.
However, fighting has also been reported. On Friday, the UN office for human rights urged all parties in the affected region – where Kurdish militants and Syrian rebels operate — to permit humanitarian access.
Yesterday in southern Hatay, Austrian soldiers and German rescue personnel suspended their search efforts for several hours due to a tense security situation caused by gunfire between local factions.
The banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, deemed a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western backers, has temporarily ceased hostilities to facilitate recovery efforts.
And yesterday, for the first time in 35 years, a border crossing between Armenia and Turkey reopened, allowing five trucks transporting food and water into the quake-ravaged province.
Medical aid for Aleppo
Aid has been sluggish to come in Syria, where years of conflict have destroyed the healthcare sector, and portions of the nation remain under rebel control.
Yesterday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, sent a plane full of emergency medical supplies into the quake-ravaged city of Aleppo.
Tedros toured devastated regions of the city and tweeted, "I'm heartbroken to see the conditions survivors are facing: freezing temperatures and minimal access to shelter, food, water, heat, and medical care."
Damascus said that it had authorized the supply of humanitarian aid to quake-stricken communities outside of its authority in the province of Idlib, and a convoy was scheduled to depart today; however, the delivery was postponed without explanation.
The Syrian capital's transport ministry reported that 57 humanitarian flights have landed in the country this week.
Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres asked the Security Council to authorize the opening of new assistance crossings between Turkey and Syria. The council will convene possibly early next week to address Syria.
The Turkish government stated that it was attempting to open two additional routes into rebel-held areas of Syria.
Anger builds
Five days of grief and anguish in Turkey have steadily morphed into wrath over the poor quality of buildings and the government's response to the country's greatest natural disaster in nearly a century.
According to government officials, 12,141 structures were destroyed or severely damaged by the earthquake.
Yesterday, Turkish police reportedly arrested 12 individuals, including contractors, in connection with the collapse of buildings in the southeastern districts of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa.
Officials and medical personnel reported that 24,617 persons had perished in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria. The current confirmed total is 28,191.
