The death toll from earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria this week has climbed to at least 21,051, CNN reported citing authorities on Friday. On the ground, many people in Turkey and Syria spent a third night sleeping outside or in cars in freezing winter temperatures, their homes destroyed or so shaken by the quakes they were too afraid to re-enter.

At least 17,674 people have died and 72,879 people have been injured in Turkey, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay on Thursday.

In contrast, according to the White Helmets civil rescue organisation, in Syria at least 3,377 individuals were killed, including 2,030 in rebel-held areas in the northwest and 1,347 in government-controlled areas, as reported by Syrian state media.

A three-month state of emergency to speed up rescue and aid efforts in Turkey’s earthquake-hit provinces came into effect on Thursday after the approval of lawmakers, Anadolu Agency reported.

The earthquake, which struck in the dead of night and was followed by powerful aftershocks, is on course to be Turkey’s deadliest since 1999, when a similarly powerful tremor killed more than 17,000.

In Turkey, many have complained of a lack of equipment, expertise and support to rescue those trapped – sometimes even as they could hear cries for help.

Further slowing the relief effort, the main road into the Turkish city of Antakya was clogged with traffic as residents who had finally managed to find scarce gasoline sought to leave the disaster zone and aid trucks headed into the area.

In Syria, relief efforts are complicated by the conflict that has partitioned the nation and wrecked its infrastructure.

Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations admitted the government had a “lack of capabilities and lack of equipment”, blaming more than a decade of civil war in his country and Western sanctions.

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