Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey
Aid worker Othman Abdulqader was fast asleep at his cousin's apartment in a four-storey building in Salqin in northern Syria when his bed shook and the floor started swaying.
“We ran out in our pyjamas. The electricity went out and heavy rain made the situation worse,” Mr Abdulqader said by phone from Salqin, in the north-western Idlib governorate.
With his cousin, Mr Abdulqader rushed to help a people nearby buried under rubble but without heavy equipment their efforts were in vain.
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A child being rescued from the rubble in this screengrab obtained from social media, in Bisnia in Syria. Reuters -
A rescued boy is given water in a bottle cap in Hatay, Turkey. Reuters -
A woman carries a box of food in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters -
'We were screaming for help until people came to help us and they took us to the hospital', said Hamid from Homs who was injured in a building collapse. Matt Kynaston / The National -
Palestinians attend a vigil to exress solidarity with the people of Turkey and Syria in Khan Yunius in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP -
A collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey after a major earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6. EPA -
A Syrian man cries as he sits on the rubble of a collapsed building in the rebel-held town of Jindayris. AFP -
A man carries a girl who was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay. EPA -
Members of the Turkish community in Berlin gather humanitarian aid. EPA -
A Turkish soldier in front of a collapsed building in Hatay. EPA -
The rubble of buildings in the village of Besnaya in Syria's Idlib province. AFP -
Russian rescuers search for survivors in the town of Jableh in Syria's Latakia province. AFP -
A photo taken with a drone shows an aerial view over collapsed buildings after an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey. EPA -
Destruction in Hatay city centre. AP -
Members of the Turkish community in Berlin collect aid to support victims. Reuters -
An injured man is carried to an ambulance after being rescued from the rubble in Hatay. Reuters -
A man carries an aid box in Hatay. Getty -
Bags of wood for fires are distributed in Hatay Turkey. Getty -
A man trapped in rubble waits while debris is removed in Hatay. AFP -
Residents look for their relatives in Hatay. AFP -
Rescuers look for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, close to the quake's epicentre. AFP -
Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building in the city of Iskenderun. EPA -
Muhammet Ruzgar, five, is carried by rescuers from the site of a damaged building in Hatay. Reuters -
A newborn found attached by her umbilical cord to her mother and pulled alive from the rubble of a home in northern Syria receives care at a clinic in Afrin. AFP -
Women grieve in Hatay, Turkey. Reuters -
Smoke billows at the site of a collapsed building in Iskenderun, Turkey. Getty -
An Iraqi plane offloads aid at Damascus airport in Syria. Reuters -
Two people cry near rubble in Turkey's Hatay province. Reuters -
A damaged building in Iskenderun. EPA -
Rescuers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed building in Iskenderun. EPA -
Cennet Sucu is rescued from beneath the rubble of collapsed hospital in Iskenderun. Reuters -
Security forces load Red Crescent aid on to a plane destined for Syria at a military base in Baghdad, Iraq. Reuters -
People rest next to fire amid the rubble in Hatay, after a 7. 8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey's south-east. AFP -
Rescuers board a charter plane in Cologne, Germany, as they head to Turkey to assist in the search for find survivors of the quake. Reuters -
Injured survivors wait to be treated at a field hospital in Iskenderun,Turkey. Getty -
Residents of Turkish city Adana gather at the scene of a collapsed building. The death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen to more than 2,000 after the region's strongest quake in nearly a century. AFP -
Residents search for survivors amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in the village of Besnia, in Syria's north-western Idlib province. AFP -
A rescuer carries a Syrian toddler, Raghad Ismail, away from the rubble of a building. Reuters -
Residents wait anxiously as rescue operations take place in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters -
Rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble in Diyarbakir. Reuters -
Residents search for survivors in Besnia, Syria. AFP -
A Syrian man weeps as he carries the body of his son who was killed in an earthquake in the town of Jandaris. AFP -
A wounded man in Jandaris. AFP -
Rescue workers search for survivors in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters -
A man carries a girl to safety following the earthquake, in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters -
People receive treatment at Al Rahma hospital in the Syrian town of Darkush. AFP -
Rescuers carry a girl from a collapsed building, in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters -
A survivor is extracted from the rubble in Diyarbakir. AFP -
The aftermath of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6 in Adana, Turkey. Reuters -
Rescuers work near the site of a collapsed building in Hama, Syria. Reuters -
Turkish sweet vendors at Dubai Waterfront Market watch earthquake updates on a phone. Victor Besa / The National -
Hayri Aggül and Ismet Guven watch the latest news on the disaster. Victor Besa / The National -
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad (C) leads an emergency cabinet meeting in the capital, Damascus. EPA -
Hundreds of people were killed as they slept. Abd Almajed Alkarh for The National -
Rescue teams search for survivors in Idlib, Syria. Abd Almajed Alkarh for The National -
Rescue teams look for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP -
A desperate search for survivors in Aleppo. AFP -
Despair in Diyarbakir, south-eastern Turkey. AFP -
An injured survivor is pulled from the rubble in Diyarbakir. AFP -
Relatives face an anxious wait as emergency teams search for survivors in Diyarbakir. EPA -
Damage caused by the earthquake in Idlib, north-western Syria. Moawia Atrash for The National -
An injured child is plucked from the rubble of a building following the earthquake in rebel-held Azaz, Syria. Reuters -
A Syrian Civil Defence team recovering victims of the earthquake in Idlib. Moawia Atrash for The National -
Tremors were felt as far away as Cyprus, Egypt and Iraq. Moawia Atrash for The National -
Destruction in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria. Reuters -
People search through rubble in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters -
A car is smashed up by fallen debris in Azaz. Reuters -
Damaged vehicles after the powerful earthquake in Diyarbakir. EPA -
Severe damage to a mosque in Malatya, Turkey. AP -
Several buildings collapsed, trapping many people underneath the rubble. AP -
Hospitals in north-eastern Syria were full of injured people. AFP -
An injured man waits for treatment at Bab Al Hawa hospital in Syria's Idlib province. AFP -
A car is buried underneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Azmarin, a town in Syria's Idlib province. AP -
Rescuers search for victims as an ambulance waits. AFP -
An injured child awaits treatment at Bab Al Hawa hospital. AFP -
Rescuers search through the rubble for survivors. EPA -
The US Geological Survey said the quake began at 4.17am local time. EPA -
People at the site of a collapsed building. EPA -
The earthquake in Turkey caused widespread destruction. AP -
People gather around a collapsed building in Pazarcik, in Turkey's Kahramanmaras province. AP -
At least 130 buildings collapsed in the Turkish city of Malatya. Reuters -
Rescuers search for victims in Diyarbakir. AFP -
Rescuers carry a victim at the site of a collapsed building in Hama, Syria. AFP -
Rescuers search for survivors in Hama. AFP -
Rescuers carry a victim pulled out from under the rubble of an eight-storey building. AFP -
Damaged buildings in Hama. The aftershocks of the quake were felt in Syria and other neighbouring countries. Reuters -
A Syrian Civil Defence representative said the situation in the city was catastrophic. Reuters -
The death toll is expected to rise in Turkey and Syria. Reuters
Idlib remains under the control of militant groups opposed to President Bashar Al Assad, along with parts of the north of the country where pro-Turkish militias operate.
“Most buildings around us collapsed,” Mr Abdulqader said.
Monday's earthquake was the most devastating in Syria in living memory, hitting areas under a Turkish sphere of influence in the north, as well other parts of the area under regime control.
earthquake survivor
Moatez Khaled was stuck in his apartment when the tremors struck.
“My neighbour and I tried to break our way out of the building,” he told The National.
“We were finally able to open a door that took us into the stairwell. The neighbours next door broke through the wall to our side and, with the help of others who were already outside, we made our way out.”
The country remains in civil war, nearing its 13th year, a conflict that began after the regime in 2011 used deadly force to crush a peaceful revolt against five decades of Assad family rule.
The epicentre of the earthquake was 120km to the north, in the Turkish province of Gaziantep. The area, along with nearby Idlib, is historically a hinterland for the great Silk Road city of Aleppo.
The building Mr Abdulqader and his cousin were at was damaged but remained standing.
It was built four decades ago, unlike most of Salqin, which has undergone extensive expansion since it fell out of Mr Al Assad's control nine years ago.
Salqin was an agricultural town of 30,000 when the civil war broke out. Rebels supported by Turkey and Arab countries captured the town in 2014 and displaced people from Idlib and elsewhere started pouring in.
The town was eventually captured by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a militant group set up by a Syrian offshoot of Al Qaeda.
Those militants control most of Idlib and maintain open channels with Turkey. Hayat Tahrir Al Sham set up an administration in Idlib but, like other militias in Syria, the group rules its territory by force.
“Humanitarian assistance to the area is limited because most donors have suspended anything beyond life-saving aid since HTS took control of the area,” says Dareen Khalifa, a senior analyst for Syria at Crisis Group.
During the war, Ms Khalifa says, “the Russians and the Syrian regime were systematically targeting hospitals and healthcare facilities. They really obliterated infrastructure in the area. The remaining facilities are very primitive … they are not equipped to handle this crisis.”
Relief operations are expected to be further hampered by the fact that there is only one open border crossing, Bab Al Hawa, between HTS-controlled areas and the outside world. The UN Security Council recently renewed permission for relief agencies to make use of the crossing for another six months, but doing so relies on constant co-ordination with the Turkish government.
This could become complicated by the Turkish government dealing with the fallout from the earthquake within its own borders.
The UN offices responsible for dealing with north-west Syria, moreover, are headquartered in the heavily affected city of Gaziantep.
In Salqin and other parts of northern Syria, electricity and gas come from Turkey and some basic services are better than they were under government control, residents say.
Syrian expats and international organisations helped overhaul the health system, together with private clinics that multiplied in the last decade. Internet and communication services expanded after breaking free from state-awarded monopolies.
Money exchangers and companies offering financial services set up shop, especially after Aleppo — which had been partly held by rebels — was retaken by the regime in 2015.
Mr Abdulqader came to Salqin several days ago to buy goods for his children at a newly-built shopping centre, now reduced to a pile of rubble, and to buy fruit and vegetables from a wholesale market.
Immediately after surviving the earthquake he rushed with his cousin to a new housing estate nearby to see if they could help.
“Our presence was useless, heavy equipment was needed,” he said. Contractors and quarry owners near Salqin started sending bulldozers to devastated neighbourhoods, he said.
The two men also went to Al Amal, one of the three main hospitals in the city.
“I counted 97 dead. The bodies looked horrific,” Mr Abdulqader said.
He took photos of some of the dead and injured. One man's leg was mangled and mostly detached from his body. Three children lay on one bed. One of them appeared dead. A woman's body arrived with a smashed head, her brain visible.
“Aftershocks were still occurring late on Monday afternoon and almost has everyone stayed outdoors, on the streets, in cars or in the fields,” Mr Abdulqader said.
“Thousands may have perished in Salqin,” he said. “We will know after the bulldozers finish working.”
