action in what will be the biggest ever nhs walk out in england. we are still hopefully on track and getting waiting lists below a year at the end of march. the more strikes we have, the more challenging that becomes. at the moment, ourstaff challenging that becomes. at the moment, our staff are working incredibly hard to get the waiting lists down. let us know how the strikes are affecting you and do you support them? you can get in touch with your thoughts on this story and the rest of the days news by contacting me on twitter @annitabbc or using the hashtag #bbc your questions we re bringing you special coverage of breaking news this hour a powerful earthquake which has struck northern syria and south eastern turkey, killing more than 640 people. the tremor had a magnitude of seven point eight, and struckjust before dawn. the epicentre was in the turkish province of gaziantep but buildings collapsed hundreds of miles away, and there are also reports of many casualtie
president erdogan, as he was speaking to the country s disaster management authority, described as the biggest disaster since 1939. the death toll across turkey and syria now above 1000, but sadly that figure expected to rise as rescuers desperately tried to get two people trapped in buildings because of the time of this quake, of course most people were asleep, and many thousands, more than 6000 thought to be injured as a result of this, but again that figure will be going up all the time. officers offers of help from many countries, the uk, france, germany, poland, iran, just to mention a few of the country is reaching out to offer help. we will continue to keep you right up to date with all the developments in
our diplomatic correspondent james landalejoins me now. is using a number of offers are pouring in for turkey at least? prison erdogan in his statement said 45 countries have offered help. they are offers, there is an offer between help arriving. in these circumstances there is a community who knows how to deal with these earthquakes, it happened before and will happen again but we are in not just talking food and medical help, we are talking about communication specialists, people who do satellite mapping so they can no where the worst affected areas are, setting up communications channels. already the turkish authorities say to don t usually buy a phone is because they need to have as much an occasion as possible so different places notes going on. that s what s happening at the moment. electricity is down, all forms of communication severely hit. one indication ofjust how bad it is included in that 45 countries that have offered help, one hasjust come
90. countries have the stuff ready to go, teams are on 24 hour standout, but getting it into the country is always the difficult bit and making sure it goes to the right place. for example, at some stage they will need heavy bulldozers to clear pass but at the moment, they need dogs, they need infrared, all the technological side.- they need infrared, all the technological side. they need sustained support, technological side. they need sustained support, this - technological side. they need sustained support, this is - technological side. they need sustained support, this is not| technological side. they need - sustained support, this is not going to be over in a few days. i was thinkin: to be over in a few days. i was thinking what to be over in a few days. i was thinking what the to be over in a few days. i was thinking what the comparison | to be over in a few days. i was . thinking what the comparison and to be over in a few days. i thinking what the comparison and the mo
in turkey s gaziantep province, which borders northern syria. it camejust after 4am in the morning, local time. but there have been almost 30 other shocks in the region, all powerful enough to magnify the damage. the earthquake was felt 700 kilometres away in gaza and egypt. turkey has declared a state of emergency. the syrian government is also taking emergency measures, but the response in that country is being made far more complex by the effects of the civil war. while turkey s allies, including the us, the european union and nato, have offered help, there have been far fewer offers for syria, many western countries have shunned its government for its actions during the civil war, but they also consider many of the opposition rebel groups to be terrorist organisations. the casualty figures are horrific. turkey s president erdogan says that at least 912 people died in his country, with nearly 5,400 people injured. syrian government figures say at