February 9, 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake news

A family of three, including two brothers and their mother, were rescued alive in the 78th hour after the earthquake that struck Turkey on Monday. 

Live images from Kanal D, which is owned by CNN's partner network CNN Turk, showed rescue officials running toward the rubble to rescue a child in Pazarcik, Kahramanmaras.

A few minutes later, the rescue team was seen carrying a boy with a large blanket.

The mother of the two boys, 36-year-old Hatice İğde, was rescued after the boys were pulled from the rubble. The boys' names are Mehmet Naim İğde and Melih Igde, according to Kanal D. 

Rescue personnel told Kanal D reporter that they started the rescue operation at 10 p.m. local time on Wednesday night and they heard a voice at 11 p.m. local time so they continued working all night.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country's death toll from Monday's earthquake rose to at least 16,710.

Speaking at a presser in Osmaniye, Turkey, he also said that there were 64,194 others reported to be injured.

Erdogan also said 6,444 buildings collapsed in the earthquake.  

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports the latest on the rescue efforts:

More than 17,500 people have died in Turkey and Syria after a huge earthquake swept through the region Monday. Rescue workers are now racing to save survivors from the rubble of collapsed infrastructure in freezing winter conditions.

The 7.8 magnitude quake earlier this week struck 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

A number of factors have contributed to making this earthquake so lethal. One of those is the time of day it occurred. With the quake hitting early in the morning, many people were in their beds when it happened, and were trapped under the debris of their homes.

In quake-stricken areas of northwest Syria, the region was already struggling to rebuild buildings that were severely damaged by continual aerial bombardment during the years-long civil war.

Additionally, with a cold and wet weather system moving through the region, poor conditions have made reaching affected areas trickier, and rescue and recovery efforts on both sides of the border significantly more challenging. Temperatures have been bitterly low, regularly plummeting several degrees below zero.

With scattered showers and snow in the region set to continue, the elements are putting those trapped underneath the rubble at risk of hypothermia. These survivors have already gone days without food and water.

CNN's Dalya Al Masri and Celine Alkhaldi contributed reporting.

The death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria is now at least 17,543, according to authorities.

In Turkey, the death toll has risen to at least 14,351 with 63,794 others reported injured, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Thursday.

The total number of deaths in Syria climbs to 3,192, including 1,930 in rebel-held areas in the northwest according to the ‘White Helmets’ civil defense group, and 1,262 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to Syrian state media. 

The total number of injured people in Syria across all affected territories rose to 5,158 – 2,258 in government-controlled and 2,900 in the rebel-held area.

At least 68,952 people have been injured in Syria and Turkey, according to figures from the Turkish government, the White Helmets, and Syrian state media.

This post has been updated with the latest figures.

Some 95 nations and 16 international organizations have pledged aid to Turkey following this week's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday.

At the moment, 6,479 rescue personnel from 56 countries are in the field, Cavusoglu added during a news conference in the capital of Ankara.

"Teams from 19 more countries will be in our country within 24 hours," he commented.

Some context: Global aid has poured into Turkey following Monday's disaster, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 17,000 people and injured tens of thousands more in the country and neighboring Syria.

The situation is more complex in Syria. Earlier today, a United Nations aid convoy crossed from Turkey into northwest Syria for the first time since the quake, as the race to get international help into the country is hampered by a years-long political conflict and an acute humanitarian crisis.

Firefighters are working to extinguish a fire at Turkey's Iskenderun port, according to a CNN team on the ground Thursday. 

Heavy smoke continues to rise from the port as firefighters and at least two firefighting aircraft attempt to put out the flames.

The southern Turkish port remained closed following heavy damage from Monday’s earthquake and the subsequent fire which broke out among containers at the terminal.

Turkey's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Wednesday that efforts fight the blaze were ongoing.

"Our teams are working continuously at the Iskenderun Port to cool down the fire from air and land," the ministry tweeted.

Some of the coldest temperatures felt since the earthquake struck southern Turkey occurred Thursday morning, as a freezing weather blast envelopes disaster-stricken regions while rescue workers in Turkey and Syria search for survivors.

Low temperatures ranged in provinces from -2°C or degrees Celsius (28 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kilis, to -4°C in Gaziantep, to -6°C in Malatya Thursday morning. Temperatures have since warmed above freezing with the heating of the sun during the day, but will remain around 5°C below average for this time of year.

Mostly clear skies will allow for the sun to warm the area during the day, but it will also allow for faster cooling at night, as cloud cover acts as a blanket to trap heat from escaping the atmosphere.

Forecast temperatures through the weekend:

This cooler than normal spell in February comes on the heels of what has been a warm winter for the region. Turkey just saw its warmest December on record and fourth warmest January on record.

Northern Syria is facing similar colder than normal conditions like Turkey. The city of Aleppo is forecast to have highs around 10°C and lows of -3°C to -2°C through this weekend. Aleppo averages highs of 12.5°C and lows of 2.5°C in February.

A United Nations aid convoy crossed from Turkey into northwest Syria Thursday for the first time since Monday's earthquake in the race to get international help into a region beset by years of conflict and an acute humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said the convoy, made up of six trucks carrying shelter items and Non Food Items (NFI), crossed through the Bab Al Hawa crossing – the only humanitarian aid corridor between Turkey and Syria.

Some 4.1 million people already depend on humanitarian aid in mostly rebel-held northwest Syria.

A top aid official told CNN earlier that efforts to help people in quake-stricken regions of Syria have been "incredibly difficult," because passage entries along the border were destroyed due to the disaster.

"On top of that, in Syria, this happens in the middle of a conflict zone,” said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

CNN's Mayumi Maruyama and Alex Stambaugh contributed reporting.

At least 28,044 people have been evacuated out of Kahramanmaras, the southern Turkish province near the epicenter of Monday's deadly earthquake.

As of Thursday at 11:38am local time, at least 23,437 people have been evacuated by air and 4,607 by road and rail, according to Turkey's disaster management agency, AFAD.  

The agency released an advisory Thursday with information on evacuation centers for those who wish to leave the province, adding that accommodations and guest houses are being coordinated by AFAD and province officials. 

Some context: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has admitted to his government's "shortcomings" amid growing discontent over the state's response to this week's disaster, as questions emerge over its preparedness in a country familiar with earthquakes.

Turkey is located over several tectonic plates, although disasters like Monday are not common. But members of the public expressed anger after reports surfaced of entire towns in the country's north flattened by the powerful tremors.

Recent estimates from the World Health Organization said up to 23 million people could be affected by the disaster.

CNN's Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Isil Sariyuce, Zeena Saifi and Reyhan Baysan contributed reporting.