Rescue hopes has continued to dwindle as the death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and northwestern Syria has gone past 29,000.

The number of deaths in Turkey rose to 24,617 on early Sunday while more than 4,500 were killed in Syria.

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

The Syrian government has approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to quake-hit areas outside its control, according to state media, while Turkey says it is working to open two new routes into rebel-held parts of Syria.

- A Seven-year-old boy is rescued from under the rubble of a collapsed building in Adiyaman, Turkey, 152 hours after the earthquake hit

MSF: Few cases of survival after 72-hour window

Dr Evgenia Zelikova, a medical unit manager for Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF), told Al Jazeera that the first 48-72 hours after an earthquake is a crucial window for pulling out survivors from under the rubble.

“As time goes on there will be less cases of survival,” Zelikova said, speaking from the Jordanian capital Amman. “Our teams working in northwest Syria at the hospitals started to see less and less cases of survivors after 72 hours.

“Being under the cold weather for a long period of time is the biggest factor in losing blood and body temperature which will have consequences on the survival possibility,” she said.

Zelikova said of primary concern health-wise is the epidemiological situation, the cold weather, the partially destroyed infrastructure, water borne disease, access to healthcare for those with chronic diseases, and mental health.

“The Syrian population in the northwest is already at a high risk [of deteriorating mental health] because of the prolonged crisis and difficult conditions, and of course such a traumatising event can increase their vulnerability further,” she said.

- A collapsed building is seen in Iskenderun

Qatar provides earthquake aid to Syria’s White Helmets

Qatar has provided help to northwestern Syria’s aid group, the White Helmets, to support their earthquake search and rescue operations, the Qatar Fund for Development said.

The aid includes ambulance repairs and fuel to operate heavy vehicles, it added.

“The road ahead is long, but we can’t face this disaster without your help,” the White Helmets wrote on Twitter, thanking Qatar.

The White Helmets, a group of 3,000 volunteer rescuers, has sharply criticised the lack of aid reaching the opposition-held areas where they work.

On Saturday, the group said it had not rescued anyone since Thursday and that it was now working to remove the bodies from the rubble.

 

Germany offers temporary visas for quake victims

Germany has announced that people affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria will be allowed to stay temporarily with relatives living in the country.

“This is emergency aid,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the Bild newspaper. “We want to allow Turkish or Syrian families in Germany to bring their close relatives from the disaster area to their homes without bureaucracy.”

She said this would be done with regular visas, which would be swiftly issued and remain valid for three months.

The decision comes as the death toll from the earthquakes surpassed 29,000 on Sunday. Millions have been displaced in both countries.

About 2.9 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, with more than half holding Turkish nationality.

The Syrian community is also large and is estimated at 924,000 since former German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the borders to refugees in 2015 and 2016.

There had been 118,000 Syrians in Germany in 2014.

"As the German government, we want to help ensure that families in Germany can temporarily take in relatives affected by the earthquake if they no longer have a roof over their heads or need medical treatment,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Twitter on Saturday.

Baerbock said the foreign and interior ministries had formed a “task force” to start the initiative.

“The aim is to make visa procedures as unbureaucratic as possible for those affected. We have increased staff at foreign missions in Turkey and reallocated capacities,” added Baerbock.

The accelerated and priority visas are intended to benefit people who have been particularly affected individually by the disaster, who may be in danger of becoming homeless, for example, or have suffered injuries that require treatment, the dpa news agency reported.

It added that the scheme is designed for victims who wish to seek refuge in Germany and stay with first- or second-degree family members who are either German citizens or who have a permanent residence permit.

 

China sends tonnes of tents to Turkey: State broadcaster

China has shipped 53 tonnes of tents to aid earthquake-hit Turkey, with more emergency aid planned in the near future, state broadcaster CCTV said.

The tents, sent from Shanghai, are scheduled to arrive in Istanbul later on Sunday, CCTV said.

The first batch of supplies from China – 40,000 blankets – arrived in Istanbul on Saturday, according to CCTV. It is planning to send medical equipment, including electrocardiogram machines, ultrasound diagnostic instruments, and medical vehicles and hospital beds soon, CCTV said.

 

‘Our pain is immense’: Earthquake survivor

Şerizan Ağbaş, 61, has been sleeping in a chair in the garden of a school in Iskenderun since the earthquakes devastated the region on Monday. She shares fire and food with rescuers.

Her apartment block is still standing but is deemed unsafe to stay in. She said most of the buildings that either collapsed or became uninhabitable following the quakes were built in the last year, and anger is growing over the quality of construction.

“Our pain is immense. I have only 15 lire in my pocket,” she told Al Jazeera. “I have nothing to lose now, so I’m not afraid.”

Nearby, locals said 14 people were saved from a collapsed building, but they believe more than 100 people died in it.

 

About 1,100 bodies brought across Turkey-Syria crossing: Officials

About 1,100 bodies have so far been brought across the only border crossing between Turkey and opposition-held northwest Syria, officials who administer the Bab al-Hawa crossing said on Saturday.

They said they were working “around the clock” to deliver bodies from Turkey to Syria. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees fled to the southern Turkish region hardest hit by the earthquake amid Syria’s ongoing civil war.

- Bodies are transported across the Bab al-Hawa crossing

 

Greek foreign minister visits Turkey’s quake-hit areas

Greece’s foreign minister has arrived in Turkey in a show of support, despite a longstanding rivalry between the two NATO countries.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias met his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, according to footage on state-run ERT TV, before they boarded helicopters to quake-hit regions.

Dendias’s arrival marks the first visit by a European minister to Turkey since the earthquake.

The two ministers are travelling to Antakya, where Greek rescuers are helping with search and rescue operations.

- Cranes remove debris next to destroyed buildings in Antakya, southeastern Turkey

Turkey trying to avoid public health catastrophe: AJ correspondent

Reporting from Antakya, Turkey, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith says a public health crisis is looming in the devastation.

“One of the challenges is the government wants to move people from areas to stop a public health catastrophe, the air is thick with smoke and dust, there’s no sanitation, people are still buried under the rubble and are still sleeping out in the open,” he said.

“So, they need to provide the tents. There are some tents, here on the outskirts of Antakya, that is, they are beginning to arrive but there still aren’t enough yet,” Smith said. “The government needs to get people out of this area and these areas so that they can start trying to rebuild and start trying to clear the debris but also so they can maintain public health."

Source: AL JAZEERA