The death toll in the massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake which hit the Turkey-Syrian border on Monday has now surpassed 5,000.
At least 5,034 people have been confirmed dead, with Turkey’s death toll reaching 3,432 while in Syria, around 1,602 people have died, CNN reports.
According to the Turkish Disaster Coordination Center, at least 21,103 people have also been injured in the country, with about 26,000 search and rescue personnel involved in rescue operations.
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The Disaster centre also revealed that 2,769 personnel from 65 countries have been deployed to the site of the disaster.
In Syria, the number of injured people has also risen to about 3,649 from across the country.
Meanwhile, the World Health organization (WHO) has said that nearly 23 million people could be impacted by the earthquake.
The WHO’s senior emergencies officer, Adelheid Marshang, said that event overview maps show that up to 23 million people are affected by the earthquakes.
“Event overview maps show that potentially 23 million people are exposed, including around 5 million vulnerable populations, including more than 350,000 older people, 1.4 million children,” he said.
The WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, added that the body is primarily concerned about areas which there is no information about yet.
“We’re especially concerned about areas where we do not yet have information. Damage mapping is one way to understand where we need to focus our attention,” he said.