give up our hope in god but they entered the building with listening devices and dogs and there was nothing yilmaz saidmehmet nasir dusan 67 sat watching as the remnants of the ninestory building were brought down in billowing clouds of dust he said he held no hope of reuniting with his five family members trapped under the debrisstill he said recovering their bodies would bring some small comfortwere not leaving this site until we can recover their bodies even if it takes 10 days dusan said my family is destroyed nowin kahramanmaras the city closest to the epicenter a sports hall the size of a basketball court served as a makeshift morgue to accommodate and identify bodieson the floor lay dozens of bodies wrapped in blankets or black shrouds at least one appeared to be that of a 5 or 6yearoldat the entrance a man wept over a black body bag that lay next to another in the bed of a small truck im 70 years old god should have taken me not my son he criedworkers continued to conduct rescue operations in kahramanmaras but it was clear that many who were trapped in collapsed buildings had already died one rescue worker was heard saying that his psychological state was declining and that the smell of death was becoming too much to bearin northwestern syria the first un aid trucks since the quake to enter the rebelcontrolled area from turkey arrived underscoring the difficulty of getting help to people there in the turkish city of antakya dozens scrambled for aid in front of a truck distributing childrens coats and other suppliesone survivor ahmet tokgoz called for the government to evacuate people from the region many of those who have lost their homes found shelter in tents stadiums and other temporary accommodation but others have slept outdoorsespecially in this cold it is not possible to live here he said if people havent died from being stuck under the rubble theyll die from the coldthe winter weather and damage to roads and airports have hampered the response some in turkey have complained that the government was slow to respond a perception that could hurt turkish president recep tayyip erdogan at a time when he faces a tough battle for reelection in mayas you know the earthquake hit an area of 500kilometer 311mile diameter where 135 million of our people live and that made our job difficult erdogan said thursdayin the turkish town of elbistan rescuers stood atop the rubble from a collapsed home and pulled out an elderly womanrescue teams urged quiet in the hopes of hearing stifled pleas for help and the syrian paramedic group known as the white helmets noted that every second could mean saving a lifebut more and more often the teams pulled out dead bodies in antakya more than 100 bodies were awaiting identification in a makeshift morgue outside a hospitalwith the chances of finding people alive dwindling crews in some places began demolishing buildings