Follow the latest on the earthquake in Turkey
As the death toll from Monday's earthquake in Turkey climbs, hope is blossoming of rescue co-operation as nations offer specialist assistance and funds to those affected in Turkey and Syria.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that 45 countries had offered help with search and rescue efforts after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, and many more leaders have expressed sorrow at the tragedy.
There is hope that Turkey's neighbours may be able to get help to affected areas the quickest, although traffic remains an issue as thousands flee aftershocks.
Gulf leaders expressed solidarity with the nations affected.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed spoke to both the Syrian and Turkish presidents, state news agency Wam reported, and Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry expressed “solidarity, sympathy and condolences”. The UAE said it would be establishing a field hospital to help with the disaster response, in addition to sending rescue teams.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was already mobilising aid to send to Turkey.
Greece said it will respond “immediately” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote in a tweet, despite fraught relations between the two countries. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, in a statement early on Monday, offered help to both Turkey and Syria following the earthquake.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his country is prepared to provide relief assistance.
“We are in the process of following up on this issue with the possibility of sending a rescue force from the army and Civil Defence to assist in the relief process,” Mr Mikati said, speaking during an emergency meeting of the National Committee for Disaster Management.
The Lebanese army shared a photo of troops readying for deployment to Twitter.
No casualties or injuries were reported in Lebanon, according to Interior Minister Bassam Malawi, although he advised residents to leave old or dilapidated buildings.
Jordan's King Abdullah expressed condolences in separate messages to both Turkey and Syria. He said he has issued directives to provide aid to the families impacted by the tragedy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said all authorities have been instructed to make immediate preparations to provide medical, and search and rescue assistance.
He said he had ordered Israeli aid sent to Turkey, the epicentre of Monday's earthquake, with the airlifts due to depart toward evening.
"Since a request was also received to do this for many victims of the earthquake in Syria, I instructed to do this as well," he said at a ceremony in a hospital near Tel Aviv.
But a Syrian official told reporters Damascus "ridiculed and denied the allegations" that it had requested aid from Israel.
"How can Syria ask for help from an entity that has killed... Syrians for decades?" said the official.
Syria's government does not recognise Israel and the two countries have fought several wars since Israel's creation in 1948.
The UK said 76 UK search and rescue specialists, four search dogs and rescue equipment will arrive in Turkey on Monday evening.
The European Union is co-ordinating specialist teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Netherlands, Poland and Romania on their way to Turkey.
It has also activated its emergency Copernicus satellite mapping service to help first responders on the ground, an important offering given the damage to communication lines in the disaster area.
“The EU is also ready to support those affected in Syria, which has also reported casualties, through its humanitarian assistance programmes,” a joint statement from High Representative Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said.
Separately, Germany has offered to provide camps with emergency shelters and water treatment units and said it was preparing relief supplies with emergency generators, tents and blankets, in co-ordination with the Turkish authorities.
Ukraine offered condolences. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine “will stand by the people in this difficult time” and was ready to provide assistance.
Russia said teams of 100 search and rescue personnel are on standby to be sent to Turkey with two Il-76 transport planes. President Vladimir Putin also offered condolences in telegrams to the leaders of Syria and Turkey.
India's National Disaster Response Force has prepared 100 personnel with sniffer dog squads and equipment.
In Cairo, where the quake was also felt, Ahmed Abul-Gheit, the secretary-general of Arab League, called on the international community to also aid the Syrian people in the aftermath of the quake.
Thousands displaced by 12 years of war are dealing with the impact of the tremors in the cold of winter.
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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
