The death toll from the catastrophic earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria has now reached approximately 33,000 reports stated Sunday, with the UN warning that the final number could rise by "double or more". Also on Sunday, a new UN convoy arrived in Syria to deliver deperately needed international aid. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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12:30am: US urges UN vote to approve more aid access to Syria via Turkey
The United States on Sunday called for the United Nations Security Council to "vote immediately" to authorise the delivery of UN aid to rebel-held northwest Syria through more border crossings from Turkey after last week's deadly earthquake.
Since 2014 the UN has been able to deliver aid to millions of people in need in the northwest part of war-torn Syria through Turkey under a Security Council mandate. But it is currently restricted to using just one border crossing.
"Right now, every hour matters," Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said in a statement to Reuters. "People in the affected areas are counting on us."
"We cannot let them down - we must vote immediately on a resolution to heed the UN's call for authorisation of additional border crossings for the delivery of humanitarian assistance," she said. "It's time to move with urgency and purpose."
8:03pm: Business owners in Turkey’s Antakya empty their shops to avoid looters
Business owners in a central district of Turkey's Antakya city were emptying their shops on Sunday to prevent their merchandise from being stolen by looters in the wake of Monday's devastating earthquakes.
In Antakya, residents and aid workers who came from other cities have cited worsening security conditions, with widespread accounts of businesses and collapsed homes being looted. Some residents who were left homeless by the earthquake and are now sleeping in their cars or tents have said their valuable belongings including gold have been stolen.
Reuters' journalists saw several business owners putting merchandise in boxes, some unsure how they would move them from the area or where they would put them.
Yuksel Uzun, the owner of an electronics store, was loading boxes of merchandise, including chargers and phone cases, on to two trucks with help from several others.
6:28pm: Syria may consider to open more border crossings for quake aid, WHO says
The World Health Organization chief said Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had voiced openness to more border crossings for aid to be brought to quake victims in rebel-held northwestern Syria. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters he had met with the Syrian president in Damascus on Sunday afternoon to discuss the response to the devastating earthquake.
"This afternoon I met with His Excellency President Assad, who indicated he was open to considering additional cross-border access points for this emergency," Tedros told a virtual press conference from the Syrian capital.
Rebel-held areas in northwestern Syria, which has been ravaged by more than a decade of civil war, are in a particularly dire situation. They cannot receive aid from government-held parts of Syria without Damascus's authorisation, and the single border crossing open to shuttle aid from Turkey saw operations damaged in the quake.
Aid began trickling through the border crossing again on Thursday, but there have been mounting calls to open more crossings to speed up the aid delivery.
While Damascus had given the all-clear for cross-line aid convoys to go ahead from government-held areas, Tedros said the WHO was still waiting for the green light from the rebel-held areas before going in.
3:11pm: Death toll rises above 30,000 in Turkey, Syria earthquake
The death toll from the catastrophic earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria reached 33,000 on Sunday, with the United Nations warning that the final number may double.
Officials and medics said 29,605 people had died in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria from Monday's 7.8-magnitude quake, bringing the current total to 33,179
2:28pm: UN warns of aid failure for Syria
The UN denounced Sunday a failure to get desperately needed aid to war-torn regions of Syria. A UN convoy with supplies for northwest Syria arrived via Turkey, but the agency's relief chief Martin Griffiths said much more was needed for the millions whose homes were destroyed.
"We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn't arrived," Griffiths said on Twitter. "My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can."
Aid has been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system, and parts of the country remain under the control of rebels battling the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is under Western sanctions.
The UN convoy of ten trucks crossed into northwest Syria via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, according to an AFP correspondent, carrying shelter kits including plastic sheeting, ropes and screws and nails, as well as blankets and mattresses.
1:22pm: A new UN convoy arrives in Syria
A UN convoy of ten trucks crossed the border with Turkey at the Bab-al Hawa crossing point in northwestern Syria. The trucks carried materials for emergency shelters like plastic sheeting, blankets, mattresses, ropes and even nails and screws.
12:15pm: Syria quake aid held up by Islamist group 'approval issues', says UN
Earthquake aid from government-held parts of Syria into territory controlled by hardline opposition groups has been held up by approval issues with the hardline Islamists group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a United Nations spokesperson told Reuters on Sunday.
The Syrian government last week said it was willing to send aid into the northern zone, which is largely held by the HTS and was devastated by Monday's earthquake.
8:49am: Greek foreign minister visits Turkey's quake-hit region
Greece's foreign minister arrived in Turkey on Sunday in a show of support after the country was hit by a devastating earthquake seven days ago, the ministry said, despite a longstanding rivalry between the two NATO countries.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was met with a warm embrace by his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, according to footage on state-run ERT TV, before they boarded helicopters to visit quake-hit regions.
His arrival marks the first visit by a European minister to Turkey since the earthquake.
The two ministers are in Antakya, where Greek rescuers are helping with search and rescue operations.
7:18am: EU says 'absolutely unfair' to be accused of not providing aid to Syria
The European Union's envoy to Syria said early on Sunday that it was not fair to accuse the bloc of failing to provide enough help to Syrians following the devastating earthquake that hit swathes of Syria and Turkey last week.
"It is absolutely unfair to be accused of not providing aid, when actually we have constantly been doing exactly that for over a decade and we are doing so much more even during the earthquake crisis," the head of the EU delegation Dan Stoenescu told Reuters in written comments.
7:07am: Turkey-Syria quake death toll surpasses 28,000, UN expects toll to double
UN relief chief Martin Griffiths said he expected the death toll to at least double after he arrived in southern Turkey on Saturday to assess the quake's damage.
Tens of thousands of rescue workers are scouring flattened neighbourhoods despite freezing weather that has deepened the misery of millions now in desperate need of aid.
Security concerns led some aid operations to be suspended, and dozens of people have been arrested for looting or trying to defraud victims in the aftermath of the quake in Turkey, according to state media.
