International Desk: The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria approached to 17,000 on Thursday, reports Al Jazeera.

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The magnitude 7.8 quake hit Turkey and neighbouring Syria early on Monday, toppling thousands of buildings including many apartment blocks, wrecking hospitals, and leaving thousands of people injured or homeless.

According to the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, At least 14,000 people have died in Turkey, while 3,162 people have been killed in Syria.

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As criticism mounted online, Erdogan visited one of the hardest-hit spots, the quake's epicentre Kahramanmaras, and acknowledged problems in the response.

Survivors have been left to scramble for food and shelter and in some cases watch helplessly as their relatives called for rescue, and eventually went silent under the debris.

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Temperatures plunged to minus-five degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) in Gaziantep early Thursday, but the cold did not stop thousands of families from spending the night in cars and makeshift tents, too scared to stay in their homes or prohibited from returning to them.

The Turkey-Syria border is one of the world's most active earthquake zones.

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In 1999, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake killed more than 17,000.

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