More than 21,000 people have died from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria as of Thursday night, with tens of thousands more injured after thousands of buildings collapsed before dawn on Monday, killing and trapping people beneath rubble.
At least 17,674 people have been killed in Turkey, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay, and at least 3,377 are known to have died in Syria, per Al Jazeera.
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The Qatari-based news outlet added that the first United Nations aid convoy reached opposition-held Syria in the northwest of the country via Turkey on Thursday, the only way the U.N. can help civilians there without needing to work with the Syrian government.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been left homeless by the earthquake in the middle of winter. Temperatures are below freezing in northwest Syria, part of the epicenter of the earthquake, and one rescue volunteer told CNN that tens of thousands of families are currently homeless in the region.
The country’s people, already dealing with a civil war, face an unthinkable amount of chaos and devastation as the fallout from the 7.8 magnitude and its aftershocks continue.
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The death toll is expected to continue climbing as more and more victims are uncovered. The destruction can be seen in aerial footage that shows entire city centers destroyed.
The natural disaster is one of the deadliest earthquakes in two decades.
