Turkish rescue attempts continue in snow-covered earthquake debris

A day after a devastating earthquake tore through Turkey and northern Syria, rescue workers were still thin on the ground in Antakya, forcing residents to pick through rubble sometimes without even basic tools in a desperate hunt for survivors.

Desperate and cold from the snow lying thick on the ground, relatives of earthquake victims in the Turkish city of Malatya expressed their frustration on Tuesday at what they said was the lack of help as they searched for missing loved ones.

Trying to find family, friends and neighbors, dead or alive, people in the southern Turkish city are asking each other for helmets, hammers, iron rods and strong rope to lift debris as they wait for more help to arrive.

While countries have scrambled to answer Turkey's call to send rescue teams to the afflicted areas, an array of problems from freezing wintry conditions, destroyed roads and a scarcity of trucks and heavy machinery have hampered relief efforts.

The lack of help has already prompted scuffles between residents and rescue workers in Antakya, with people pleading with rescuers to save their loved ones. In the city's Kavasli neighborhood, one woman, aged 54 and named Gulumser, was pulled alive from an 8-story building 32 hours after the quake.

Another woman then shouted at the rescue workers: "My father was just behind that room she was in. Please save him." The rescue workers explained they could not reach the room from the front and needed an excavator to remove the wall first.

Elsewhere, drone footage above the city showed a lone man on top of a collapsed building, hammering at debris while others stood around him.

"I see people here complain about the scarcity of rescue efforts, but maybe it is because there are 10 cities affected by the quake and many, many rescue teams are needed," a rescue worker from Istanbul, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

"But we are doing our best, trying to save people."

Turkish authorities say some 13.5 million people have been affected in an area spanning roughly 450 km (280 miles) from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east, and 300 km from Malatya in the north to Hatay in the south.

Turkey declares a state of emergency

Turkey has declared a state of emergency and is using the airport in Adana as a logistics base. The airport became so congested that for example a team from Taiwan's fire service, consisting of 40 people and three search and rescue dogs, was stranded in Istanbul for hours on Tuesday waiting to take off.

Erdogan said the three-month state of emergency was to cover Turkey's 10 southern provinces and called it a disaster zone in a move meant to bolster rescue efforts.

He said 70 countries had offered help in search and rescue operations and that Turkey planned to open up hotels in the tourism hub of Antalya to temporarily house people.

Turkey's disaster and emergency authority has erected tents in Malatya to shelter those who have lost their homes.