Over 21,000 people have died as a result of the powerful earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, according to the latest figures Friday. The staggering loss of life in the 7.8-magnitude quake makes the tremor the seventh-deadliest disaster of this century, ahead of the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami that claimed around 18,500 lives and approaching the horrific 31,000 toll associated with a 2003 earthquake in Iran. Rescue workers are still searching to save remaining survivors trapped in the rubble four days after the latest quake hit. A secondary humanitarian disaster is also building as hundreds of thousands of people have been left cold and hungry after their homes were destroyed in the middle of winter.
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