Turkey: Families spend night in freezing temperature

Families in Turkey's Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of Feb. 06th deadly earthquake, gathered around a bonfire desperate to stay warm in the freezing cold weather. "Our houses have been damaged, we cannot go inside now. We haven't eaten anything since morning, our children are very hungry. May God protect all of us," said Orhan Sahin, standing close to the fire, fueled by the debris of structures damaged by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake. Hungry children placed their bare feet close to the fire while their parents recover from the shock of the tragedy. "Our situation is very bad here, we are waiting without water or food, we are in a miserable state," said Kahramanmaras resident Neset Guler who managed to escape with his four children. Temperatures in some areas were expected to fall to near freezing overnight, worsening conditions for people trapped under rubble or left homeless. Rain fell on Feb. 06 after snowstorms swept the country at the weekend. "We'll be cold here until morning, freezing, getting wet," said quake survivor Fadime. "We have no place to go, no place to stay." While international aide poured to country with the first lights of the morning, search and rescue teams struggled to set up shelters for the survivors. Poor internet connections and damaged roads between some of the worst-hit cities in Turkey's south, homes to millions of people, hindered efforts to assess and address the impact. Monday's casualties already mark the highest death toll from an earthquake in Turkey since 1999, when a tremor of similar magnitude devastated the heavily populated eastern Marmara Sea region near Istanbul, killing more than 17,000.