February 10, 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake news

A 16-year-old boy was pulled alive from the rubble of a destroyed building in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras 119 hours after the devastating earthquake hit the country and Syria.

In dramatic scenes shown live on CNN affiliate, CNN Turk, Kamil Can was brought to the surface with a smile on his face. He appeared to be in OK condition. 

Rescuers said they had been prompted to search the location after hearing his voice come from below the wreckage.

Kamil was taken away on a stretcher, looking alert, to waiting relatives who could be seen kissing him with joy.

Monday's deadly earthquake has left millions of people homeless in Turkey and Syria in the middle of winter, according to aid organizations, and survivors are finding refuge in temporary shelters amid freezing temperatures.

In Syria alone, approximately 5.37 million people will need shelter assistance, according to a preliminary estimate from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,

There are still glimmers of hope for survivors under the rubble. On the fifth day since the earthquake, teams were able to rescue a mother and her two daughters, as well as another family of six in Turkey. But the pace of rescues has slowed.

Meanwhile, families are grieving as they begin to bury their loved ones. Salma Salazar, who lost members of her family, told CNN her family is "very heartbroken."

Here's what you need to know:

A record-breaking quake: Monday's disaster was the deadliest earthquake to strike Turkey in more than 80 years. The quake has left more than 23,000 people dead, which is more than those killed in Japan's Fukushima disaster of 2011.

Government intervention: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that the country's government will pay citizens' rent for one year if they do not wish to stay in tents. He also vowed penalties for "abusers" involved in crime during his declared state of emergency. He's reported attacks on businesses and robberies in regions impacted by the earthquake. Turkish Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag said Friday that judicial investigations have started for builders in regions affected by the quake, according to Turkey's state media Anadolu. 

Aid efforts: Erdogan said more than 141,000 rescue personnel are working on the ground in 10 earthquake-struck provinces in Turkey. And according to the White House, the US will be “ramping up” its assistance to Turkey and Syria.

But in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad criticized Western countries Friday for having "no regard for the human condition." His comment is in line with statements heard from government officials and Syria’s state-run media, who have pinned the lack of humanitarian aid and hindered rescue equipment on US and EU sanctions. On Friday the Syrian government approved sending aid into rebel-held territory in the northwest of the country, but the aid group International Organization for Migration tells CNN they haven't received any specifics from officials on the announcement.

While Turkey is no stranger to strong earthquakes, Monday's disaster is the deadliest to strike the country in more than 80 years.

Here's what we know:

Monday's deadly earthquakes left thousands of people in Turkey and Syria homeless in the middle of winter. They are now finding refuge in temporary shelters.

Here's a look:

Click here for more photos from the region devastated by the earthquake.

More than 5 million people in Syria may have been left homeless following the earthquake that struck the country and Turkey on Monday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday.

"UNHCR is focusing very much on shelter and relief items, ensuring that collective centers that displaced have gone to have adequate facilities, as well as tents, plastic sheeting, thermal blankets, sleeping mats, winter clothing and so on," said Sivanka Dhanapala, a UNHCR representative in Syria.

The United Nations agency said 6.8 million people were already displaced internally within the country since the start of the civil war that ripped through Syria in 2011.

"All this, of course, impacts the access for aid," Dhanapala said. "Roads have been damaged and that hampers us trying to reach people. It's been very, very difficult." 

Based on "a preliminary estimate," the refugee organization said "5.37 million people affected by the quake will need shelter assistance in the whole of Syria."

"That is a huge number and comes to a population already suffering mass displacement," according to Dhanapala.

The United States is “ramping up” assistance to Turkey and Syria following the catastrophic earthquake that struck on Monday, the White House told reporters Friday. 

John Kirby, the White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, said the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has already deployed a disaster assistance and response team to Turkey.

Two additional urban search and rescue teams are also “conducting operations in support of Turkish rescue efforts” in the hardest-hit areas of Turkey, for a sum-total of 200 personnel, assisted with specialized equipment and canine support dogs, according to Kirby. He said the US is deploying assistance teams via Blackhawk helicopters from Incirlik Air Force Base in Southern Turkey.

On Thursday, USAID announced $85 million in funding for the region to provide “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.”

In Syria, Kirby said, humanitarian partners are “urgently scaling up response efforts,” including the launch of charter flights carrying medical supplies, the distribution of hot meals and the deployment of 20 truckloads of medicine and food into the country, as a way to "underscore that US sanctions will not prevent or inhibit prohibiting humanitarian assistance in Syria.” 

He pointed to a license from the US Treasury that provides additional authorizations for humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people. 

The death toll following the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria this week has climbed to 23,726, according to authorities.

In Turkey, the death toll has risen to at least 20,213 with 80,052 others reported injured, according to Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

The total number of deaths in Syria stands at 3,384 — including 2,166 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense group — and 1,347 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to Syrian state media.

The number of injured people in Syria across all affected territories stands at 5,245, with 2,295 in government-controlled areas and 2,950 in rebel-held areas.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said at least 20,213 people were killed and 80,052 injured in the earthquake that struck 10 provinces in Turkey this week, according to Turkey's state media Anadolu. 

He said citizens rescued from the wreckage have been transferred to provinces outside of earthquake-struck regions.

Digital photos of those whose identities are unknown are being uploaded to "special software for matching," Koca said.

"I hope that we will reach the identity information of most of the people," he added.

The total death toll in Turkey and Syria surpassed 22,000 on Friday.

While the Syrian government has said it will allow aid deliveries to rebel-held areas of the country, the head of a UN aid agency tells CNN they haven't received any specifics from officials.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has been working to aid those impacted by the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquake, has not received any specific places or times to enter the territories, said António Vitorino, the organization's director-general.

The Syrian government said earlier Friday it would allow aid into rebel-held areas if it does not go into "terrorist" hands. Vitorino called that a "political statement."

He said all of the IOM's aid goes to those in need.

"We do not make any discrimination," he told CNN's Lynda Kinkade.

More on aid deliveries to the area: The delivery of urgent supplies to quake-hit areas of northern Syria has been complicated by a long-running civil war between opposition forces and the Syrian government, led by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of killing his own people.

Two UN convoys carrying aid have entered the rebel-held northwest through the only authorized border crossing in Turkey, while Assad's government has received planeloads of aid from countries around the world.