In pictures: Syria and Turkey reeling as death toll nears 20,000
Gallery
The river Asi bursts its banks in Idlib, adding to Syrian woes [Getty images]
In regime-held Aleppo, rescue efforts among the rubble are painfully slow [Getty images]
Rescue workers from China to Venezuela are joining the push for survivors [Getty images]
Some rescue efforts end in joy as young lives are saved [Getty images]
Orphans in Gaza paint pictures in solidarity with children trapped and killed by the earthquake [Getty images]
Syrians bury their loved ones in makeshift graves [Getty images]
Relatives queue in Turkey outside a hospital to deliver the dead [Getty images]
Turkish politicians have been touring disaster-struck areas [Getty images]
Families console each other after nights of terror [Getty images]
Whatever the weather or time of day, rescue efforts continue [Getty images]
The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria climbed to more than 19,300 on Thursday - surpassing toll from Japan's Fukushima disaster - as hopes faded of finding survivors stuck under rubble in freezing weather.
The human cost of the tragedy is still yet to become fully clear, as rescue workers continue their work eyewitnesses tell their stories.
Disaster agencies said several thousand buildings had been flattened in cities across a vast border region, and new risks of flooding have sent parts of northern Syria into further panic.
For Syrians already plagued by war and a recent cholera outbreak, this has only intensified their suffering.
There have been some glimmers of hope as survivors are pulled out of the rubble, but it remains a time of overwhelming distress and mourning.
