At least 50,000 killed in Turkey and Syria quakes, says UN

A man walks past collapsed buildings following a devastating earthquake in the town of Jinderis, Aleppo province, Syria (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)

The devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria have killed at least 50,000 people, with many more injured, tens of thousands still missing and hundreds of thousands homeless, the UN humanitarian chief said.

Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council that three weeks after the magnitude 7.8 quake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria, followed by strong aftershocks including on Monday, the scale of the disaster is now much clearer: at least 44,000 people have been killed in Turkey and about 6,000 in Syria, mainly in the rebel-held north-west.