ANTAKYA/KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey - The earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria has already claimed more than 45,000 lives, and the death toll is expected to rise given that 264,000 apartments in Turkey were destroyed and many people are still missing as a result of the nation's worst modern disaster.
Three survivors were pulled from the rubble in Turkey on Friday, eleven days after the earthquake struck. Turkey currently has 39,672 fatalities, whereas Syria, which is next door, has over 5,800. The death toll in Syria has not changed in days.
The dead in Turkey and Syria, many of whom were unable to receive complete burial rites due to the magnitude of the catastrophe, were remembered in mosques around the world on Friday during absentee funeral prayers.
Domestic teams continued to search through destroyed buildings on Saturday in the hopes of discovering more survivors who defied the odds, despite the fact that many international rescue teams had already left the vast earthquake zone. According to experts, 24 hours after an earthquake is when most rescues take place.
The 40-year-old Hakan Yasinoglu was saved 278 hours after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck on February 6 in the middle of the night in the southern province of Hatay, according to the Istanbul Fire Brigade.
In the past, the lives of Mustafa Avci, 34, and Osman Halebiye, 14 years old, were saved in Antakya, a historic city in Turkey that was formerly known as Antioch. Avci was put on a video call with his parents while being carried away, and they showed him his newborn child.
"I'd completely given up on hope. This truly is a miracle. They returned my son to me. When I first saw the wreckage, I believed that no one could be saved alive," said his father.
Later, at a hospital in Mersin, an exhausted Avci was reunited with his wife Bilge and daughter Almile.
According to aid organizations, the survivors will require assistance for months to come because so much essential infrastructure was destroyed.
The majority of fatalities in Syria's neighbor, which has already been devastated by more than ten years of civil war, have occurred in the northwest, which is under the control of insurgents fighting President Bashar al-Assad. This conflict has complicated efforts to aid those who have been affected by the earthquake.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that the sides engaged in fighting for the first time since the disaster, with government forces shelling Atareb, a rebel-held town that was severely damaged by the earthquake.
Thousands of Syrians who had fled their country's civil war to Turkey have, at least temporarily, returned to the homes they had previously left there.
The number of people still missing following the earthquake has not been disclosed by either Turkey or Syria.
Growing resentment toward what they perceive as dishonest building practices and seriously flawed urban development, which led to thousands of homes and businesses collapsing, is felt by families who are still waiting to reunite with relatives in Turkey.
One such structure that collapsed in Antakya, killing hundreds of people, was the Ronesans Rezidans (Renaissance Residence).
Hamza Alpaslan, 47, whose brother had lived in the apartment building, said, "It was said to be earthquake-safe, but you can see the result." "It's in terrible shape." Neither cement nor pure iron are present in it. It truly is hell."
Turkey has ordered the detention of more than 100 suspects, including developers, and promised to look into anyone suspected of being responsible for the collapse of buildings.
The United Nations launched a $400 million appeal for Syrians on Thursday, in addition to a $1 billion appeal for the Turkish relief effort.