Frustration mounts, hope for finding survivors wanes as earthquake death toll tops 40,000

Amna Nawaz:

Now to the ongoing tragedy in Syria and Turkey, where the earthquake death toll topped 40,000 today.

It includes some 35,000 in Turkey, making it the country's worst disaster in a century. At the same time, a few flickers of life are still being found.

Rescuers shouted "Don't be afraid" as a teenager was pulled to safety after nearly 200 hours buried under concrete one week after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. But these stories of survival are becoming rarer by the minute.

Rescuers in Antakya, Turkey, tired and cold, are sleeping in the rubble. As hope wanes, frustration is mounting. Victims blame contractors for skirting building codes, which led to catastrophic consequences.

Riza Atahan, Turkish Earthquake Survivor (through translator):

God does not create people so they can die. It's the contractors who kill people. It's the concrete that kills people.

Amna Nawaz:

Hospitals in Turkey are still full, but patients' needs are starting to shift. Doctors say they're treating infectious diseases, upper respiratory viruses, and mental health.

Maj. Beena Tiwari, Indian Army:

Now more of the patients are coming with post-traumatic stress disorder, all the shock that they have gone through during the earthquake. Patients are having panic attacks.

Amna Nawaz:

In this hospital across the border in Syria's Idlib province, doctors are trying to save everyone they can. In one bed sits a 10-year-old boy in shock, rescued after 50 hours in the rubble. A toy truck keeps him company, as doctors treat him for injuries sustained when his home collapsed, killing his mother and six siblings.

Other patients in the hospital need ongoing dialysis treatments. But medical supplies are running out.

Ismail Abboud, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator):

I came here today for dialysis, but there isn't anything to go with the machine. There are no syringes, no tubes, no medications, no solutions. There is nothing, absolutely nothing.

Amna Nawaz:

Much-needed international aid is barely trickling into Syria. Today, the first U.N. aid convoy crossed into a rebel-held region.

But U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says it's not coming fast enough.

Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General:

Aid must get through from all sides to all sides through all routes without any restrictions.

Amna Nawaz:

The U.N. estimates that nearly nine million Syrians were affected by the quakes. Their lives upended, they're left to hope that aid comes quickly.

And, late today, another remarkable rescue. A search team in Southern Turkey pulled a 77-year-old woman from a collapsed building after 212 hours of being buried alive.