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       Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday pledged to "work non-stop" to help the victims of the devastating earthquake that shook parts of Syria and Turkey.

       Assad spoke to reporters in the demolished Masharqa neighbourhood of Aleppo during his first visit to the quake zone following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

       "Syrians don't talk, they take action," Assad said.

       "We as Syrians if we went to send a message, one can get it from 12 years of steadfastness, confrontation, and adhering to values, principles, and sovereignty. This is more eloquent than any word. I promise to work nonstop," he added.

       Donations and a field hospital: How Belgium is mobilising to help Turkey and Syria What challenges is Syria facing after the devastating earthquakes?

       The devastating damage to Aleppo, Syria’s second and largest city, compounds the war torn city that has years of bombardment in the 12-year conflict, much of it by Assad's forces and those of his ally, Russia.

       During his visit to Aleppo on Friday, Assad visited Aleppo University Hospital and then met with rescuers in Masharqua, where paramedics on Thursday removed the bodies of 44 people and seven others alive from one building.

       World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Dr Michael Ryan, WHO’s head of emergencies, were also arriving in Aleppo on Friday to help coordinate and support the delivery of aid.

       Russia has sent 20 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Syria and the US has temporarily lifted sanctions related to the provision of disaster relief. The earthquake has left around 3,000 people dead in Syria, and more than 20,000 over the border in Turkey.

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       The Turkish town of Antakya is one of the worst affected cities hit by Monday's earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria.

       Rescue workers and firefighters are using diggers to try to move the rubble and retrieve survivors from the dozens of buildings that collapsed.

       Right beside the search operations, hundreds of people are camped out on the streets, now homeless after their houses were destroyed.

       'We were married for 52 years': Earthquake survivors painful search for families in Antakya

       People have now set up tents, as well as collected firewood to burn throughout the night through the freezing winter conditions.

       Even if a building is still standing, Turkish authorities are telling residents not to return to their homes because they may have been compromised and damaged due to the strong tremors.

       Moreover, locals are waiting anxiously for news of loved ones, hopefully, retrieved alive from the rubble.

       Aid is arriving from all over the world, but frustration at the Turkish government's response is growing. Many Turks say the pace at which it is reaching those in need is far too slow.

       Watch Euronews international correspondent Anelise Borges' report in the video above.

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       In the days after two deadly earthquakes hit south eastern Turkey and northern Syria, most people online have been searching for the latter over the former. According to Google Trends data, only two countries -- Norway and Poland -- have had more searches for Syria, compared with Turkey.

       Syria has been in the throes of a deadly civil war for nearly 11 years and much of the area most-heavily impacted by the earthquakes is not under government control. Millions of internally-displaced people have been sheltering there and getting enough help to them was already a challenge.

       "You'd have done well to pick a worse place to be affected by an earthquake of this magnitude", says Mark Kaye, from the International Rescue Committee.

       "Some of the people that we work with in northwestern Syria have been displaced more than 20 times over the last 12 years."

       Huge cholera outbreak feared

       Millions in northern Syria live in camps for internally-displaced persons. Tents have generally not been affected, but other key facilities have fared poorly.

       "The camps are terrible. It's rained, so there's a lot of mud", says World Vision Syria Response Director, Johan Mooij, who has workers on the ground with internally displaced people.

       "One of our fears now is that if there's no good drinking water, cholera will explode. Basic services are down. It is a terrible situation indeed."

       Civil defence workers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, 6 February Ghaith Alsayed/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved

       While some aid agencies are already based in the region, many of their workers, like the rest of the local population, have been left in dire straits. And that is hindering the response on the ground.

       "Many of our staff simply don't have anywhere to sleep", Kaye says. "[They] are spending the night sleeping on the floors of schools, in mosques, in sports halls or even in their cars. Even having our own office at the moment is proving difficult because some of our field offices have been quite severely damaged by the earthquake itself".

       Difficulties crossing into Syria

       In southern Turkey, rescuers and aid efforts have been hampered by the destruction. Roads have been destroyed, along with other crucial infrastructure. In northern Syria, agencies face an additional problem, however -- the border itself.

       Small amounts of aid are going through Damascus, like this package sent by the UAE. However due to regime control, most western aid is sent through southern Turkey. AP/AP

       As a result of the ongoing civil war, Syria's northwest is divided between government, rebel and Turkish control. Before the earthquakes, most humanitarian aid entered the area from Turkey. However, restrictions on what can -- and cannot -- come in, as well as a lack of overall capacity, mean not enough material is getting through.

       While the epicentres of the two earthquakes were in Turkey, much of north-western Syria was affected too. It's an area with extremely divided political control Euronews

       "The entire area is largely reliant on one border crossing point from Turkey for UN aid assistance that wasn't already sufficient", says Mark Kaye.

       While some aid has been requested by and sent to the Syrian government, it remains a small portion of what is currently needed. And there is no communication between the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the rebel factions. What's more, diplomatic relations between most Western governments and Damascus, are non existent.

       As Xavier Castellanos from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies notes, "limitations that we can face around sanctions do affect the speed [at which] we can intervene."

       "[They] affect the capacity to allocate financial resources, to enter and to operate... it will require more flexibility."

       "The earthquake doesn't recognise borders.

       "Most of the resources in funding, search and rescue teams, at the moment seems to be heading towards southern Turkey where there are significant needs, but we need to make sure that Syria isn't forgotten. The earthquake doesn't recognise borders."