According to the Syria Civil Defence, 2,274 people died in Syria’s rebel-held northwest region, with more than 12,400 others wounded.

Turkey has ended rescue efforts in all but two provinces, almost two weeks after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands of people, the country"s disaster agency said, writes BBC.

Searches will continue in Kahramanmaras and Hatay, the agency’s chief said. However, hopes of finding anyone else alive in the rubble are fading fast. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Turkey and announced USD 100 m in humanitarian aid.

The epicentre of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on 6 February was in Kahramanmaras. More than 44,000 people are confirmed to have lost their lives in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria.

The death toll is expected to climb, with about 345,000 apartments in Turkey known to have been destroyed and many people still missing. Neither Turkey nor Syria have said how many people are still unaccounted for.