The death toll of a devastating earthquake in southern Turkey and Syria jumped to more than 8,300 people on Wednesday as rescuers worked against time in harsh winter conditions to dig survivors out of the rubble of collapsed buildings, reports said.
As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One UN official said thousands of children may have died. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces.
But residents in several damaged Turkish cities voiced anger and despair at what they said was a slow and inadequate response from the authorities to the deadliest earthquake to hit Turkey since 1999.
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