ANTAKYA, Hatay – Tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in a catastrophic earthquake gathered around fires in bitter cold and demanded food and water on Thursday, three days after the earthquake hit Turkey and Syria and killed more than 20,000 Human.

The emergency crews used picks, shovels, and jackhammers to dig through the twisted metal and concrete, and sometimes dragged survivors out. But in some places they have turned their attention to the demolition of unstable buildings.

While tales of miraculous rescues briefly lifted spirits, the grim reality of the hardships faced by tens of thousands of survivors of the disaster overshadowed their lives. The death toll surpassed that of the 2011 earthquake off the coast of Japan that triggered a tsunami that killed more than 18,400 people.

In northwestern Syria, the first truckloads of UN aid arrived in territory controlled by Turkish rebels after the earthquake, highlighting the difficulty of helping people in a country torn apart by civil war. Meanwhile, in the Turkish city of Antakya, dozens of people rushed in front of a truck distributing children’s coats and other goods for help.

One survivor, Ahmet Tokgoz, called on the government to evacuate people from the devastated region. While many of the tens of thousands of people who have lost their homes have taken refuge in tents, stadiums and other temporary shelters, others spend their nights outdoors.

“Especially in this cold it is impossible to live here,” he said. “If people didn’t die from being stuck under the rubble, they would die from the cold.”

Winter weather and damage to roads and airports has made the response difficult in both Turkey and Syria, where a civil war that has displaced millions of people has further complicated efforts. Some in Turkey complain that the response has been too slow, a perception that could hurt President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he faces an uphill battle for re-election in May.

In the Turkish city of Elbistan, rescuers stood on a high pile of rubble from a collapsed house and caught a drowned elderly woman.

Teams called for silence in hopes of hearing low-key pleas for help, with a group of Syrian paramedics in the rebel-held northwest known as the White Helmets noting that “every second could mean saving a life.”

But more and more often, teams pulled out corpses from under the rubble. In Antakya, Turkey, more than 100 bodies, covered in blankets and awaiting identification, lie in a makeshift morgue near a hospital and in refrigerators.

As the chances of finding survivors among the rubble diminished, teams began demolishing buildings in some places. In others, they just had to move on.

In Adiyaman, Associated Press journalists saw a local resident begging rescuers to come and sort out the rubble of a house where relatives were stuck. The crew refused, stating that there were no survivors there, and they had to prioritize areas where there might be survivors.

The man, who identified himself only as Ahmet for fear of government retribution, later asked the AP: “How can I go home and sleep? My brother is there. He may still be alive.”

In Nurdagi, crowds of onlookers — mostly family members of the people trapped inside — watched as heavy machinery tore apart a collapsed building, six stories of which were stuck together.

Mehmet Yılmaz watched from afar, estimating that about 80 people were still under the rubble, but it was unlikely that any of them would be pulled out alive.

“There is no hope,” said Yılmaz, 67, who had six relatives, including a three-month-old baby locked inside. “We can’t give up our hope in God, but they entered the building with listening devices and dogs. and there was nothing.”

Authorities on Thursday canceled search and rescue operations in the cities of Kilis and Sanlıurfa, where the damage was not as severe as in other affected areas.

Aid has trickled across the border into war-torn Syria. Small aid organizations sent supplies to rebel-held northwest Syria, but the first UN trucks arrived on Thursday. The UN is authorized to deliver aid through only one border crossing, and so far this has not been possible due to damaged roads.

UN officials said more was needed and called for humanitarian considerations to take precedence over political ones.

The scale of losses and suffering, as a rule, remained enormous. Turkish authorities said on Thursday the country’s death toll had risen to more than 16,100 with more than 64,000 injured. On the Syrian side, which includes government and rebel-controlled areas of the border, more than 3,100 people have died and more than 5,000 have been injured.

It is unclear how many people are still missing in both countries.

Among the missing were members of a school volleyball team from northern Cyprus, as well as teachers and parents who were staying at the collapsed hotel, Nazim Cavusoglu, education minister of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north, told Turkish NTV television. .

The Turkish Disaster Management Agency said more than 110,000 rescuers are currently taking part in the operation and more than 5,500 vehicles have been dispatched, including tractors, cranes, bulldozers and excavators. Teams from places as diverse as Poland, Switzerland, Israel and the West Bank contributed to the Turkish deployment.

But international aid to Syria has been far more meager, as efforts there have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-controlled region along the border, surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Syria itself is an international pariah under Western war-related sanctions.

The UN shipment was scheduled before the quake hit but was delayed due to road damage. UN officials said more trucks would follow.

Erdogan, who continued touring the devastated areas on Thursday, tried to deflect criticism and vowed the situation was improving. He renewed his promise to earthquake survivors that the destroyed homes would be rebuilt within a year. He said the government would provide 10,000 Turkish liras ($532) to affected families.

Alsayed reported from Bab al-Hawa, Syria, and Bilginsoy from Istanbul. Contributions were made by Associated Press reporters Susan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Emra Gurel and Yakup Paksoy in Adiyaman, Turkey, Robert Badendik in Istanbul, and David Rising in Bangkok.