crescent and search and rescue teams from all over the country are being dispatched to the region. across the border in northern syria. it s been cut off from the international community after years of conflict between president assad s army and the rebel forces making rescue efforts even harder. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet reports. a syrian village which vanished in minutes. its people are all that s left standing. those who survived, so many didn t. all along this area next to turkey. still now many families now are under the rubble. our teams trying to save them. it s very difficult task for us. we need help. we need the international community to do something. families shaken from their sleepjust after 4am. by a powerful earthquake whose epicenter is just across the border.
pattern of aerial bombardment by the syrian air force and russian air force during the worst years of the insurrection, and in many cases, hospitals, schools and clinics have been hit. thus destabilise a lot of the structure. getting access to those areas, getting aid in is even harder on the syrian side of the border than it is in turkey. plus you ve got the horrendous weather conditions snowstorms, plunging temperatures, freezing cold and no shelter. it s a very complicated picture because the syrian regime doesn t have relations with most western countries. turkey is not a pariah of the west, so aid has been rushing into turkey, but it s much harder to deal with an area of the middle east that is divided between parts that are controlled by a pariah government and parts that are
unofficial say three major airports in the region are inoperable. social media is full of people posting and searching for their loved ones under the rubble. ~ , ,., , searching for their loved ones under the rubble. ~ , ,, ., the rubble. absolutely desperate. you can hardly the rubble. absolutely desperate. you can hardly imagine the rubble. absolutely desperate. you can hardly imagine being - the rubble. absolutely desperate. you can hardly imagine being one| the rubble. absolutely desperate. i you can hardly imagine being one of those families doing what you just described there. give us an idea for people who don t know the country. how use to earthquakes is it and what the level of preparedness and how unusual is this? how unusual is this? turkey is one ofthe how unusual is this? turkey is one of the most how unusual is this? turkey is one of the most earthquake how unusual is this? turkey is one of the most earthquake prone - of the most earthquake prone countries in the
that it is about to collapse. it happens just slowly enough that everyone in the immediate area seems to be able to get to safety. it s not thought anyone was inside the building at the time. this is the destruction in the turkish city of hatay, row upon row of flattened buildings leaving a huge volume of debris. also in hatay, videos have emerged showing large fires bursting into the air believed to be the result of burst gas pipelines. and this is gaziantep castle before.. ..and after the quake, the 2,000 year old castle from the roman era destroyed. it s sparked fears for other historic sites in the region. here s turkey s interior minister. translation: this is seriously destructive and at the moment, all of our governors are that of their duties. police,
military presence in syria. we have also seen condolences from countries like the uae and saudi arabia. they are trying to establish a bigger domestic, diplomatic presence in damascus but that is enough we haven t seen any of the system is yet to watching and had been offers of assistance from other countries such as serbia, armenia, india to turkey. such as serbia, armenia, india to turke . ~ . , turkey. what is needed in syria? be . in turkey. what is needed in syria? begin here turkey. what is needed in syria? begin here right turkey. what is needed in syria? begin here right now turkey. what is needed in syria? begin here right now from - turkey. what is needed in syria? begin here right now from the i begin here right now from the international rescue committee. we are international rescue committee. - are really worried right now is those in need of urgent critical care. the health system just isn t equipped to be able to deal with the levels are numbers of people who will c