Turkey-Syria earthquake: As it happened
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Emerging from the rubble after five days smiling to cheering crowds, Adnan Muhammed Korkut, seemed largely unscathed.
Adnan's mother can be heard shouting his name in joy and they quickly exchange hugs before being carried on a stretcher.
"Thank God you arrived," he said, hugging his mother.
In order to survive the 17-year-old said he had to drink his own urine.
Adna's father, Mehmet Korkut, said once he learned that his son was making a noise and had not left the wreckage for days.
Following his sons rescue he prostrated in front of the rubble and prayed.
The rescue of several survivors from the rubble of buildings in Turkey lifted the spirits of search crews on early Friday morning.
After almost five days unlikely survivors are still being found. A four-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble early on Friday morning in one of the worst hit earthquake areas in the Turkish province of Hatay.
Several people were rescued from the rubble of buildings during the night, including a 10-year-old boy saved with his mother after 90 hours in the Samandag district of Hatay province.
But hopes are fading whether many more would be found alive in the ruins of thousands of collapsed buildings in towns and cities across the region.
Satellite images have captured the sheer power of the earthquakes that struck Turkey on 6 February.
The movement of the tectonic plates along the fault lines captured by satellites show a relative shift of around three to four meters.
Satellite images have captured how villages, roads and train lines along the fault line have completely shifted.
The country lies on major fault lines that border the Anatolian Plate, Arabian Plate and Eurasian Plate, and is therefore prone to seismic activity.
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is in charge of sanctions, has issued "Syria General License (GL) 23", which it says will authorise any transactions that are otherwise prohibited by US sanctions on Syria if they are related to earthquake relief.
The sanctions exemption will last for six months, the department said.
“As international allies and humanitarian partners mobilize to help those affected, I want to make very clear that US sanctions in Syria will not stand in the way of life-saving efforts for the Syrian people," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
"While US sanctions programs already contain robust exemptions for humanitarian efforts, today Treasury is issuing a blanket General License to authorize earthquake relief efforts so that those providing assistance can focus on what’s needed most: saving lives and rebuilding."
Earlier on Thursday, the State Department doubled down on its refusal to lift sanctions on Syria, insisting they are not impeding humanitarian aid into the country.
The US has again said it is refusing to lift sanctions on the Syrian government, insisting that humanitarian aid to the country for earthquake relief is not being impeded.
"There are many hurdles to overcome when providing humanitarian assistance in Syria, and especially after devastating earthquakes this week, but our Syria sanctions policy is not among them," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Thursday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres agreed with the US, saying sanctions are not blocking aid from getting into Syria.
"This is a moment in which everybody must make very clear that no sanctions of any kind interfere with relief to the population of Syria in the present moment," he said on Thursday.
The State Department also repeated a demand that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad open more border crossings for aid delivery.
Some aid organisations, including the Damascus-based Syrian Arab Red Crescent, have called for sanctions to be lifted on the Assad government.
The Syrian government has also upped its rhetoric, calling for sanctions to be removed. On Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said that sanctions on Syria have "made the disaster all the worse".
The latest death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria is 21,051 people. Turkey's death toll currently stands at least 17,674 people, according to the country's vice president. There have also been 72,879 reported injuries.
In Syria, at least 3,377 people have been killed, according to figures from the Bashar al-Assad government and a rescue organisation operating in rebel-held northwestern Syria.
The devasting earthquake in Turkey and Syria has destroyed significant historic and archaeological sites.
Among the losses to Turkey's rich heritage, is the centuries-old Habibi Neccar Mosque, located in Antakya, one of the worst-affected cities.
The mosque is reported to be the oldest in Anatolia, with some records dating the original building to the mid-7th century, when it was built following the Muslim conquest of the city - then known as Antioch - on the location of a Roman temple and a later church.
Read more here.
Turkey earthquake: Anatolia's first mosque heavily destroyed
As the death count from a series of deadly earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey continues to rise, a debate is emerging over whether western sanctions on Syria are hampering aid to the war-torn country.
Because of the devastation of the quakes, some aid organisations, including the Damascus-based Syrian Arab Red Crescent, have called for sanctions to be lifted on the Assad government.
But many analysts say the situation is far more complex.
“There is no relationship between the West’s punitive sanctions on the Assad regime and the delivery of humanitarian aid - none whatsoever,” Charles Lister, director of the Syrian programme at the Middle East Institute, told MEE.
Read more here.
Are sanctions obstructing the delivery of aid to Syria?
The UK has committed to donating an additional £3m ($3.6m) in funding to the Syrian Civil Defence group to aid search and rescue efforts.
The funding will bring the country's total disaster relief support to the group, known as the White Helmets, to £3.8m ($4.6m).
"The UK is proud of our longstanding partnership with them. The White Helmets, throughout the conflict, have demonstrated unwavering commitment and dedication," the Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, said in a statement.
The death toll for Turkey has risen to 17,674 and the number of injured has hit 72,879, according to the country's vice president, Fuat Oktay.
The latest tally pushes the total number of people killed in both Syria and Turkey to at least 20,000.
Turkey's death toll has now surpassed the estimated death count from the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake that struck in the northwest part of the country, close to the city of Istanbul. Monday's earthquake is now the deadliest in Turkey since 1939.
The World Bank has said that it is providing Turkey with $1.78bn in relief and recovery financing assistance as the country struggles with the aftermath of the quakes.
In a statement, it said that $780m will become available for the country immediately as the funds will be diverted from two existing World Bank loan projects in Turkey.
An additional $1bn in assistance is also being prepared but will take more time to arrange, according to a World Bank spokesperson.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also announced it would provide $85m in urgent humanitarian assistance to both Turkey and Syria.
"USAID is providing emergency food and shelter for refugees and newly displaced people, winter supplies to help families brave the cold, critical health care services to provide trauma support, safe drinking water to prevent disease, and hygiene and sanitation assistance to keep people safe and healthy," the agency said in a statement.
Football club Hatayspor have withdrawn from the Turkish Super League, as their star winger Christian Atsu remains missing following the deadly earthquakes.
The president of the Turkish Union of Clubs Ali Koc announced the move on Thursday.
“Hatayspor sent a letter. They notified us that they will not play this season’s games,” Koc said at a news conference along with Turkish Football Federation (TFF) president Mehmet Buyukeksi.
The news came after reports that Ghanaian football star Christian Atsu remains missing despite the club’s vice president saying earlier this week that he had been rescued from the rubble with injuries and transported to hospital.
Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported the club’s sports director Taner Savut is also missing.The Turkish league was suspended following the blast. It is expected to restart on March 3
Rescue workers in opposition-held northwest Syria have said aid received from the UN is currently insufficient.
“The UN are not delivering the aid that we are in most need of to help us save lives with time running out,” Raed al Saleh, who leads the White Helmets volunteer rescue group, told Reuters.
Volunteers are relying on simple tools and old cranes, and in urgent need of heavy equipment for search and rescue operations, charities and rescuers said.
