Turkey-Syria earthquake: As it happened

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak "pledged the UK's steadfast support" to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Tuesday.

The prime minister "expressed his deep condolences for the tragic loss of life", Downing Street said.

Sunak also brought up the "deeply concerning" humanitarian situation across the border in the rebel-held northwestern region of Syria, where Turkey plays an important coordinating role.

Erdogan thanked the premier for the country's "solidarity" after a 77-strong British search and rescue team landed in Gaziantep on Tuesday.

King Charles also offered his "thoughts and special prayers" with all those affected by the earthquakes.

"I can only begin to imagine the scale of suffering and loss as a result of these dreadful tragedies and I particularly wanted to convey our deepest and most heartfelt sympathy to the families of all those who have lost their loved ones," he said in a message to Erdogan.

The number of people affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria could be 23 million or higher, according to a preliminary assessment by the World Health Organization (WHO).

A spokesperson for WHO told the BBC that "many, many hospitals just do not have what they need to function, simple things like power", and added that the organisation fears the death toll could rise even further.

Here are some photos showing the damage left by the two massive earthquakes.

A plane carrying a team of 77 UK search and rescue specialists, equipment, and four search dogs has landed in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey, the country's foreign ministry said.

The team is made up of firefighters and staff from 14 fire and rescue services from across the country, according to the Foreign Office.

An emergency medical team was also on the flight and the equipment that arrived included seismic listening devices, concrete cutting and breaking equipment, and tools to prop and shore up debris.

The total death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has now surpassed 7,200 people. Turkey's death toll continues to rise and now stands at 5,434, according to the country's health minister.

The latest death toll in Syria has reached at least 1,832 people. Syrian state news agency SANA said at least 812 people were killed and 1,449 people injured in the government-held provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Idlib and Tartous.

Meanwhile, at least 1,020 people were killed in Syria's opposition-held northwest and 2,400 injured with the toll expected to "rise dramatically", the White Helmets rescue team said.

The German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom has said it was making all calls from its network between Germany, Turkey and Syria free for a week as part of its response to the earthquake.

The offer will run retroactively from midnight on 6 February until 15 February, the company said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that it would also donate $1.1m in aid.

In addition to free calling, customers of Telekom and its subsidiary Congstar in Turkey and Syria will be able to roam for free.

Germany is home to the world's largest Turkish diaspora, with more than three million ethnic Turks residing in the country. It also hosts roughly a million Syrian refugees who fled the country's civil war.

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has come under fire for publishing a cartoon which mocked the devastating earthquakes which hit Turkey and Syria on Monday. 

Shared as the "drawing of the day" on its Twitter account, the cartoon by artist Juin showed a damaged building, a toppled car and a heap of rubble with the caption: "No need even for tanks."

Social media users slammed the magazine for mocking the disaster, which has claimed thousands of lives and injured many others.
  
Users said that the illustration was "insensitive", made in "poor taste" and goes beyond the accepted threshold of "clever jokes and dark humour".

Read more:

Charlie Hebdo sparks outrage over cartoon mocking disaster

Survivors who escaped the earthquake have described to Middle East Eye the desperate aftermath in southern Turkey.

“It was horrendous. You feel completely desperate in that moment. You can only live through it and wait,” recalled Burak Karacaoglu, a journalist based in Hatay province.

“I could only think about my wife and children. What else could I do?

“We felt like the quake slowed down for a moment. But then a stronger tremor hit us, like the earth cracked open and there was a great rumble. This went on for a very long time.”

Read more about the experience of those who survived the night with their families:

'The earth cracked open': Survivors in Turkey recall earthquake terror

Syrian government jets struck areas badly affected by Monday's earthquake shortly after the disaster took place, according to Syrian sources and British politicians.

British MP Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad launched a "truly callous and heinous attack" on Marea, a town in northwestern Syria affected by the earthquake, in the hours after it took place.

A military source stationed near the location confirmed the incident to Middle East Eye, saying there were “no material or human losses.”

"Everyone was preoccupied with the earthquake disaster," he added.

A civilian source said the shelling happened less than two hours after the earthquake, which has so far resulted in the deaths of more than 6,100 people across Turkey and Syria.

"I heard the sound of several shells falling on the outskirts of the area around 2am," the source said.

Mamoun al-Khatib, an activist based in Marea, told MEE that four or five shells had struck the area.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly described the attack on Marea as "completely unacceptable."

Read more:

Syria: Government forces bombed areas hit by earthquake hours after disaster

The death toll in Turkey has risen again, now standing at 4,544. 

An additional 26,725 people are wounded, according to an update on Tuesday evening from Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Managament Agency (AFAD). 

Earlier on Tuesday, President Erdogan announced that a state of emergency had been declared in 10 provinces impacted by the earthquake for three months. 

As well as Assad, Egypt’s President Sisi also held a phone call with Turkey’s President Erdogan on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Ahmed Fahmy said the president offered condolences and sympathy to the victims of the earthquake, and reiterated Egypt's solidarity with the “brotherly Turkish people”.

Sisi also said Cairo would provide humanitarian assistance and relief.