Death toll in Turkey and Syria surpasses numbers from Japan’s Fukushima disaster

At least 19,875 people were killed and 79,717 others injured five days after the earthquake that affected 10 provinces in Turkey, according to Turkey’s Disaster Management Authority (AFAD).

The total death toll in Turkey and Syria surpassed 22,000 on Friday.

While the Syrian government has said it will allow aid deliveries to rebel-held areas of the country, the head of a UN aid agency tells CNN they haven’t received any specifics from officials.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has been working to aid those impacted by the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquake, has not received any specific places or times to enter the territories, said António Vitorino, the organization’s director-general.

The Syrian government said earlier Friday it would allow aid into rebel-held areas if it does not go into “terrorist” hands. Vitorino called that a “political statement.”

He said all of the IOM’s aid goes to those in need.

“We do not make any discrimination,” he told CNN’s Lynda Kinkade.

More on aid deliveries to the area: The delivery of urgent supplies to quake-hit areas of northern Syria has been complicated by a long-running civil war between opposition forces and the Syrian government, led by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of killing his own people.

Two UN convoys carrying aid have entered the rebel-held northwest through the only authorized border crossing in Turkey, while Assad’s government has received planeloads of aid from countries around the world.

A mother and her two daughters were rescued alive on the fifth day of the earthquake that struck 10 provinces on Monday, according to CNN Turk.

The mother was rescued in the 111th hour and her two daughters were rescued back-to-back in the 112th hour in the hard-hit city of Kahramanmaras, according to CNN Turk’s reporting. 

The Syrian government has approved sending aid into rebel-held territory in the northwest of the country, a statement said Friday, but officials provided no specific timeline. 

Syrian officials have repeatedly said they are “ready” to send help to the territories, but no aid from the government has reportedly entered the rebel-held areas since the earthquake on Monday.

More background: The delivery of urgent supplies to quake-hit areas of northern Syria has been complicated by a long-running civil war between opposition forces and the Syrian government, led by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of killing his own people.

Two UN convoys carrying aid have entered the rebel-held northwest through the only authorized border crossing in Turkey, while Assad’s government has received planeloads of aid from countries around the world.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said on Wednesday that any aid Syria receives must go through the capital Damascus.

“The Syrian state is ready to allow aid to enter into all regions, provided that it does not reach terrorist armed groups,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said more than 141,000 rescue personnel are working on the ground in 10 earthquake-struck provinces in Turkey. 

“We have more than 141,000 personnel, including foreign teams, working on the ground in 10 provinces. The Disaster Management Agency and other institutions are offering tents, containers, and prefabricated buildings, so that they can meet the needs quickly,” he said during a speech in the city of Malatya.

Erdogan said that Turkish institutions and organizations are providing hot meals to relief teams for the survivors of the earthquake through mobile kitchens and soup kitchens.

Erdogan also said those who had their own homes destroyed will receive 5,000 Turkish Lira ($265.50) per month in aid and those who have had rentals destroyed will get 2,000 Turkish Lira ($106.20) per month.

Monday’s earthquake and aftershocks in Turkey and Syria have left more than 22,000 dead. The tragedy has surpassed numbers from other deadly earthquakes, including Japan’s Fukushima disaster in 2011.

Families are grieving as they begin to bury their loved ones across the two countries.

While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was facing the strongest opposition yet to his presidency in this upcoming election, the devastating earthquake could change the electoral equation for the Turkish strongman, who hopes an upcoming election will extend his rule well into a third decade, analysts say.

Many of the 10 hardest-hit provinces of the country’s south have traditionally supported him and his AK Party. Erdogan has been visiting impacted areas, consoling victims and pledging to rebuild the thousands of flattened homes. But there is disgruntlement with the government’s response in those areas, where some people complain that scores of bodies are yet to be collected, causing the stench of death to spread.

For Turkey’s rulers, quakes have been game changers in the past: In what later became a defining moment for Erdogan’s ascension to power, the 1999 quake – and the slow relief efforts that followed – only added to the sense of disillusionment many felt toward the nationalist, secularist state in power at the time, analysts say.

After the 1999 earthquake, the state “collapsed like a house of cards,” Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told CNN on Thursday.

This time around, the Turkish opposition is already speaking out about the government’s perceived shortcomings in dealing with the tragedy. Following a nationwide restriction on social media after the earthquake, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, said, “This insane palace government cut off social media communication.”

“As a result, crying for help is less heard,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “We know everything you’re trying to hide.”

With additional reporting by Yusuf Gezer in Iskenderun, Turkey.

John Morrison of the Fairfax County Fire Department in Virginia is one of over 150 search-and-rescue members deployed to Turkey through the United States Agency for International Development. His team, which has been around the world to assist with disasters, is currently searching the entire city of Adiyaman for earthquake survivors.

While his team has not found anyone alive in the rubble yet, he said he has previously seen victim rescues after even more than a week following an earthquake.

Since the quake in Turkey struck when many citizens were asleep, Morrison said that survivors could be wrapped up in blankets from their beds to help keep them warm in the cold temperatures.

Hypothermia is a big concern, he said, but his team has doctors ready to treat patients.

While it is a “widespread disaster,” search-and-rescue members try to whittle down the task by conferring with local authorities and people on the street to see if they’ve heard any noise from under the rubble, he said.

The death toll following the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria this week has climbed to at least 22,772, according to authorities.

In Turkey, the death toll has risen to at least 19,388 with 77,711 others reported injured, according to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  

The total number of deaths in Syria stands at 3,384 — including 2,037 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense group – and 1,347 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to Syrian state media.

The total number of injured people in Syria across all affected territories stands at 5,245, with 2,295 in government-controlled ares and 2,950 in rebel-held areas.

At least 82,956 people in Syria and Turkey were injured following the quakes, according to the Turkish president, the White Helmets and Syrian state media.