Local media reported some traumatised residents were forced to swim from their homes to safety. Falling trees smashed houses and flood waters blocked several roads, leaving communities stranded.

The toll from last week's earthquake in Turkey and Syria rose above 35,000 on Monday, as rescue teams started to wind down the search for survivors and the aid effort shifted to hundreds of thousands of people made homeless

Rescuers pulled more survivors from the rubble a week after an earthquake struck Turkey and Syria leaving more than 35,000 dead, as the UN warned the toll was set to rise far higher.

Thousands of people have been killed in Syria by the earthquake that struck its border region with Turkey on February 6 but aid has been slow to reach the most affected areas.

Gabrielle, is currently sitting 250 km (155 miles) northwest of New Zealand and is forecast to move close to the east coast over the next 24 hours

Turkey began legal action over some building collapses

Officials and medics said 24,617 people were killed in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria. The confirmed total now stands at 28,191

Tens of thousands of rescue workers are still scouring through flattened neighbourhoods despite freezing weather that has deepened the misery of millions now in desperate need of aid

The longer of the two ruptures stretches 300 kilometres (190 miles) northeast from the Mediterranean Sea's northeastern tip.

Rescuers pulled a two-month-old baby and an elderly woman from the rubble on Saturday, five days after an earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria, leaving more than 25,000 dead

His visit came five days after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria, killing nearly 25,000 people including at least 3,553 in war-torn Syria alone

The United Nations World Food Programme appealed for $77 million to provide food rations to at least 590,000 newly displaced people in Turkey and 284,000 in Syria.

Bangladesh's combined team rescued a teenage girl alive and recovered three bodies from the rubble

A cargo plane of Bangladesh Air Force, loaded with tents, blankets, sweaters, dry foods, and medicines, left for Syria tonight

The Syrian government said it had approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to areas outside its control in the rebel-held areas

Rescuers pulled children alive Friday from the rubble of the Turkey-Syria earthquake as the toll surpassed 22,000 and bitter cold compounded the suffering of the homeless

The 46-member team were heading by bus to Adiyaman, around 350km away from the city of Adana

Relatives were left scouring body bags laid out in a hospital car park in Turkey's southern city of Antakya to search for missing relatives, an indication of the scale of the tragedy.

At least 19 Bangladeshi students have been shifted to Ankara from Gaziantep, one of the most affected regions of Turkey, which suffered a major earthquake killing over 17,000 people since Monday.

Says current envoy