Rescuers continue to pull out more survivors from the rubble in Turkey and Syria as the death toll from last week’s earthquakes topped 36,000.

The quakes have killed at least 31,643 people in Turkey as of Monday, and 4,614 people in Syria.

Martin Griffith, the UN aid chief, has said rescue efforts are coming to a close and that the world has so far failed people in northwest Syria, saying survivors there “rightly feel abandoned”.

The United Nations says up to 5.3 million people in Syria may be homeless after the earthquakes. Nearly 900,000 people are in urgent need of hot food in Turkey and Syria.

In Syria, aid from government-held regions into the rebel-controlled territory has been held up by approval issues with the Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham armed group, according to the UN.

Rescuers working to save mother and child in Kahramanmaras
Reporting from Kahramanmaras, Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker said rescue workers were believed to be just metres away from reaching a mother and child thermal imaging has indicated may still be alive.

“They are now tunneling from two angles…to try and get to the area where they are believed to be. But is extremely dangerous work,” Dekker said from the city, which was closest to the initial earthquakes epicentre.

She added family were waiting at the scene during the over 24-hour effort, in which rescuers had to contend with more two earthquakes overnight.

“It’s incredibly difficult and sensitive work,” she said.

‘Whole world let the Syrian people down’, says survivor in rebel-held northwest
Anger over the lack of aid has grown in northwest Syria, where survivors say the international community has abandoned them.

“The whole world let the Syrian people down. If this destruction was in Europe or a foreign country, the whole world would have gathered to rescue those killed – but here, no one [cares],” said Abdel-Monem Qassem al-Razouq, standing in front of ruins in Sarmada.

“I am here to watch and remember, there are memories here. I see my sister’s dress, her son’s clothes and all of them. Their smell is here. When they remove everything I won’t come.”

Credit: Aljazeera.com