nick paton walsh is joining us live from quake-ravaged southern turkey. ay you could feel tempers really beginning to fray. but still amongst this climate desperation, frustration, iter panic as to how people could possibly live in a city so deeply ravaged, there are moments of hope. and in the last hours a 70-year-old woman was pulled alive after 121 hours under the rubble. three brothers have also pulled from the rubble after 120 hours. these are staggering stories. and here is one rescue we saw after 109 hours underground. over 100 hours after the worst quake in nearly 100 years, and still there are lights that won't go out. a reminder this happened and this new dawn so welcome. no better way to show you're alive than this smile. the crowds at each site larger, louder in success, now the number of living buried is smaller. this woman's husband was pulled out moments before her. they don't have to go far to be reminded how so many searches end. the preciousness of each moment of hope is most acute here where military helicopters and ambulances form a str

nick paton walsh, thank you very much. >> look at the rescue efforts there with nick paton walsh. we have a reporter in istanbul. tell us through it. what is going on where you are, selma? >> i'm at this bustling distribution center. this is all about turks helping turks. i want to show you around here. it is an absolute hive of activity. you are looking at hundreds of volunteers here. they're packing boxes with whatever people need in the earthquake zones. they have food, sanitation kits. packing them as quickly as they can. remember, everything you are looking at in these boxes is toothpaste, basic skin care, toilet paper. those people in that earthquake have absolutely nothing. they're trying to provide the basics here. everything you're looking at is given by individuals or a business. there is a real sense of solidarity. spoken to the volunteers in every single one of them said the same thing. we could the no sit at home and watch people suffer and not do anything about it. i know it looks like chaos. it is actually organized chaos. you can see loudspeaker over there. they're

>> nick paton walsh, thank you. appreciate that. kaitlan? >>> also this morning, volunteers say hundreds of thousands of people are homeless. they have no place to go after that earthquake. we're live near a camp of the survivors that find themselves in this situation. what are they saying to you? what is next for them? >> kaitlan, just absolutely heartbreaking wherever you turn. story of so much loss and people now left in is this situation where they can only think about surviving today. they don't know what they're going to do next. just explain where we are, we are in one of the hardest hit provinces here in turkey. everywhere around the city you see so much destruction. so many lives lost. people who are now starting to come to terms with the fact that they're never going to see their loved ones again. then you have survivors, people that survived the earthquake but left with nothing. and they end up in places like this. these mini tent cities that the government has set up. hundreds of families at this one here. you can see behind me,

>> nick paton walsh, appreciate, it thank, you nick. next, breaking news, the january six special counsel subpoenas mike pence. what he might learn -- or what the special counsel might learn from his testimony, whether executive privilege applies, and later, congressman george santos, another pass criminal charged now surfacing, what was made and what happened after police showed up to his door. onlthat actively cools, warms, and effortlessly responds to both of you. our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. proven quality sleep. only from sleep number. my name is tonya, i am 42. as mother of nine kids, i think i waited this long to get botox® cosmetic because i take like no time for myself. my kids are sports kids. we're always running from one activity to another. i'm still tonya, and i got botox® cosmetic, and this is like the first thing i've done for me in a really, really long time. my life is still crazy, it's just as full as it was before. just with less lines. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily

nick paton walsh, you're south of where jomana is. talk about what you have been seeing. >> yeah, it's been a long day here of attempted rescues, false hope, and a brief moment of relief, particularly in the building behind me over here. anderson, about ducsk, there wa an intense influx of rescuers because they heard noise. they thought a police officer was trapped in there. one many of his colleagues turned up for an hour or so of intense digging. the first body came out, that of a 21-year-old man. we saw medics giving him cpr, a pretty bad sign in that case. but then an extraordinary moment of hope. a 4-year-old boy pulled from the wreckage alive, seemingly alert enough to try to struggle with his oxygen mask and take it off when medics tried to help him. but sadly, it seemed his father followed shortly afterwards, showing significantly less signs of life. that boy would have been taken out after 89 hours trapped beneath what would have been his apartment block behind me there. in the hours afterwards, we've seen excavators taking u

cnn's nick paton walsh reports. >> reporter: 48 hours in. and any sign of hope will do. rescuers rush in. the building's first three floors have collapsed down but left the upper floors upright. someone is inside, possibly alive. by the time they get her to the ambulance, though, it's clear they were too late. her mother outside, only able to watch her everything vanish. my little one, she says. don't take her. don't let her get lost. on the streets, a chilling patchwork of what's left standing and what's not left. and its ruins, anxious crowds of rescuers and locals, thinking they heard someone alive. demanding silence to listen again. down here is ahmed, the rescuers say. alert, responsive. a syrian refugee. the building next to him, barely hanging on. their work, issuing it was quicker. across the city, help has landed. this man, guarding his neighbor's books with his father-in-law next to the body of his mother-in-law. he gestured behind him to where he once lived. it's hard to get your head around how inhabitable a city of this size has become so fast. literally eve

nick paton walsh, cnn, turkey. >> powerful story there is. cnn's joins us from istanbul. what's the latest on the rescue and on the race to avert a bigger disaster? >> reporter: it came as the days go on hope of finding anyone still alive is dwindling and that death toll is only growing higher and higher. this is becoming less of a rescue operation and more of a recovery operation. it's sad to say. the president here this turkey says the government has committed all its departments to focusing on that rescue and recovery effort. they have dedicated more than 140,000 people across 10 provinces to support in that effort of as well as a huge amount of funding going into that turkish presidency those efforts do continue. we are still hearing those remarkable stours of hope. three brother hs to be rescued more than 120 hours of after the earthquake hit. significant feat. that'sen given many home, but hope is dwindling. as we heard now in syria, the white helmets, that have been leading those volunteers, have been leading on the rescue effort there. search and rescue effort has

cnn's nick paton walsh begins our coverage. >> it is hard to imagine how this rubble gave anyone hope. yet, for 50 or so hours after the quake, it almost did. when it stopped, when the chances of surviving ebbed, bodies near the epicenter here kept coming. the paralysis of grief, when these two parents see their eight year old daughter's -- on stained. another four year old girl with no parents here to bury her. another father, simply walking behind. it has been constant and tense activity trying to save lives, but we are sadly now into a window where so many of the ambulances that arrived will likely be taking away people who perished. >> up high, hope is strongest. digging furiously by hand here. on the other side of the rubble, medics rushed forward, growing furious on how nothing here came sooner. >> [screaming] [speaking non-english] >> this stretches here, too late, an eternity. another body pulled out, a syrian refugee in his 40s, as the excavations gain pace. an audience of agony watches, waits. >> [speaking non-english] [sirens] >> [speaking non-english] >> [crying] >> a hosp

nick paton walsh is in turkey tonight. nick, what are you seeing around you?ve you seen today? >> reporter: yeah, it's been extraordinary watching this city sort of slowly begin to fall into silence, at times desperately keeping the excavators, the crowds quiet, hoping they can hear something inside the rubble, a sign of life. it brings an eerie ghostliness to huge areas of this town. it used to be of millions at times during the day, but sometimes in the case you're about to see, 109 hours after the quake, that brings out extraordinary moments of joy. over 100 hours after the worst quake in nearly 100 years, and still there are lights that won't go out. naked feet, a reminder this happened in everyone's sleep. and this new dawn so welcome. no better way to show you're alive than this smile. the crowds at each site larger, louder in success. now the number of living buried is smaller. [ applause ] this woman's husband was pulled out moments before her. they don't have to go far to be reminded how so many searches end. the preciousness of each moment of hope is

straight now to nick paton walsh. nick, hello to you. it's freezing there.tershocks are slowing down rescue efforts. what's the latest? >> reporter: absolutely. turkey has not seen anything like this, a 7.8 initial shocker and 7.1 one that followed. the kind of weather we're dealing with, horizontal snow, people trapped under the rubble of buildings. here in turkey there's a massive rescue effort in the kahramanmaras region where i'm standing. here is what we've been learning. night blanketed the destruction with freezing temperatures. fires reveal an unwavering operation. rescuers with only their barehands listening for faint voices of survivors trapped under their homes. the magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed and injured thousands in turkey and syria and left thousands more homeless sifting through the dust for what's left of their lives. >> translator: we barely escaped from inside the house. we have four children and left at the last moment. i guess there were several people trapped inside. it was a huge disaster. our situation is very bad here. we are wait

cnn's nick paton walsh is in turkey right now. ck, tell us what you have been seeing and experiencing. >> reporter: yeah, it is sadly, wolf, around this time that it seems the race against time for survivors is slowly being lost. while 24 hours ago there were signs of hope, of joy, being people rescued alive, we have seen sadly today mostly bodies being retrieved from the rubble. behind me a growing sense of anger at the slow pace of the government response here despite president recep tayyip erdogan of turkey to fly if to make the government's presence felt, a sense of anger about what potentially lies ahead. it is hard to imagine how this rubble gave anyone hope. yet for 50 or so hours after the quake, it almost did. and when it stopped, when the chances of surviving ebbed, the bodies so near the epicenter here kept coming. the paralysis of grief when these two parents see their 8-year-old daughter's red hair, blood-stained. another 4-year-old girl with no parents here to bury here. and another father simply walking behind. it's

nick paton walsh, cnn. >>> u.s.resident joe biden heads to poland later this month with the war in ukraine about to enter a second year. he'll arrive in poland february 20th, four days before the anniversary of russia's invasion. mr. biden will meet with his polish counterpart and other leaders from the region. the white house says he wants to send a message that allies will continue to stand by ukraine against russia's aggression. sam kiley has more now from eastern ukraine, where russian forces already are ramping up their attacks. >> reporter: clearly there's a great deal of interest in the visit of a u.s. president to poland to mark the anniversary on february 24th of the latest russian invasion of ukraine. but the reality on the ground is that the ukrainians are grappling with another russian offensive. they believe that the much vaunted spring offensive has come early, effectively with very intensive attacks by professional military personnel from the russian airborne divisions in the eastern part of the count

nick paton walsh is in ankara, turkey tonight. nick, you've been traveling through that snow. i know it is incredibly hard even to drive as we see behind you. how much hope is there to find survivors tonight as these death toll numbers are tragically rising? >> that is the desperate hope for these horrifyingly cold and better conditions. they might leave some people to be able to get pulled alive from the rubble. this earthquake barely even 24 hours old. we started this morning with 600 dead, now in turkey, 2921, the latest figures we're hearing. some cities, particularly -- where this epicenter was near. hard for rescuers to get to. a city that bloomed almost out of nowhere in the past decade because of the civil war happening in syria and the refugees that flooded to it, also so heavily hit. but down the road behind me here, this constant stream of excavators, fire engines, ambulances, all of turkey almost feels at times on the move to try to help the hard-hit south where those numbers are going sadly to edge up as this cold continues to come. that is the battle safe people

nick paton walsh is on the ground in turkey. nick, good morning to you.ere, please. >> reporter: don, here probably one of the biggest cities impacted by this earthquake, the devastation is utterly staggering. behind me you can see what the rubble has done and the grim toll that is building over the last hour. the bodies brought out, one just behind me before literally as you were speaking brought from the wreckage. there are moments when rescue workers run in desperately hoping that the noises or that the body they have seep may emerge indeed alive, but i have to tell you so far today, because of that hour you were talking about fast diminishing, that is less and less the case. indeed, the devastation is startling. these streets of apartment blocks, some standing, unscathed, perhaps with cracks, others tilted at an angle, others completely destroyed. we went to a street whereby czarly it seemed every building in that had lost its bottom three floors, but indeed sunk down and was still standing. one of those buildings there was a rush of medical workers,

making this disaster one of the deadliest quakes in decades, cnn's nick paton walsh is inside the regionhe 7.8 magnitude epicenter was recorded. nick, what are you seeing in this hour? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely right, abby, to say that window of rescuing people alive is certainly closing. it is still bitterly cold here. and the commotion you can see behind me is the continued bid in the dark of night to excavate. i think it's fair to say they're moving in a way that shows a lot less of the caution that when we saw when he first got here last night, piecing their way, very carefully, sometimes, by hand, listening for survivors, it's noisy, it's fast-paced. and sighi also have to tell you today, to this time, so close to the epicenter, we've seen a lot of bodies pulled out. devastating numbers. a 4-year-old pulled away in a blanket here. an 8-year-old girl, a number of men often lined up in the streets in large numbers with tarp p tarpaulins. and president recip tayyip erdogan of turkey, he flew into this town today as part of a trip of earthquake-ravaged areas. i think he accepted it

nick paton walsh is live from the search and rescue operation near the turkish and syria border. morning, nick. what can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, poppy, behind me you can see that the excavations have moved into trying to reduce the rubble. we have soon glimmers of hope. some extraordinary images as helicopters now part of the machinery of the government that is quite palpable here. turkish naval helicopters coming and sometimes the frequency of 20 minutes and filling up with survivors brought in ambulances at a great rate here. one instance we saw a 3-year-old girl and 2-month-old sister of hers without their parents, according to the rescuers, whisked on to the helicopter. at times the helicopters trying to take off, being called back down again because another ambulance turned up to deliver yet more survivors. one instance, incredibly light load carried by rescuers. i wonder what could be on it. we looked and there were two infants on one stretcher, passed by hand inside that helicopter which then took off. about 15, i would say, people put on the helicopters that we sa

nick paton walsh reports. >> reporter: the spring is looming and so the warnings of more war heat up.irst, the beleaguered russian president using the 80th anniversary of the battle of stalin grad to suggest despite the endless western weapons to ukraine he's not done yet. >> we are not sending our tanks to their borders, but we have something to answer with, and it will not end with the use of armored vehicles. >> reporter: but on the ukrainian side the warnings are thick and fast too, and of a renewed russian offensive with perhaps half a million troops. >> we all know that russia is concentrating its forces for a revenge attempt, not only against ukraine, but also against free europe and the free world. >> reporter: but how can russia surprising most in how badly they've performed in 11 months suddenly be such a threat again? firstly, a reminder that russia's recent gains are small, and around bakmut of minor ciggiance yet still in ukrainian hands after many months of siege, hundreds if not more russian dead. these small gains don't resers the staggering retreats we saw by russia i

>> cnn's nick paton-walsh with an important report from antakya, turkey. thank you so much. joining me now, emergency manager for doctors without borders ozan abash. mr. abash, thank you for joining us. the executive director of doctors without borders avril benoit was on the lead earlier this week. she said the ideal rescue window is 48 hours. it's been more than that, but we keep seeing these miraculous stories of people getting pulled out of the rubble alive as recently as today. what is the most pressing medical need those individuals have? >> well, thanks for having me here tonight, and thanks for the question. what are the most pressing needs? obviously is at this period acute needs of these survivors basically, mostly around surgical needs or trauma-related care. but as avril also mentioned, the window is closing down. there's a tremendous effort to still look for people under the debris and rubbles and some -- unfortunately, as the time is passing we are likely to see less of those good news. >> the delivery of urgent supplies to quake-hit areas of northern syria, of

nick paton walsh is joining us. what are you seeing? what have you seen today?hough the people haven't been hit enough, today is what was remained of hope slowly disappeared. the sign behind me is staggering. 24 hours ago it was intense activity. people trying to find any survivors. the hope for that really is gone. the excavators falling silent. you can see next to me the fires burning from the rubble here simply put by people to keep themselves warm, to get through the night. we are dealing with a homelessness crisis along with the tens of thousands of dead across turkey. we saw so close to the epicenter. it's hard to imagine how this rubble gave anyone hope. yet, for 50 or so hours after the quake, it almost did. when it stopped, when the chances of surviving ebbed, the bodies near the epicenter kept coming. the paralysis of grief. these two parents see their 8-year-old daughter's red hair blood stained. another 4-year-old girl with no parents here to bury her. another father simply walking behind. constant, intense activity trying to save lives. we are sadly

stay safe over there. >>> let's go to nick paton walsh, where a thousand buildings have totally collapsed, your a little north of where becky is. you spent the day with search and rescue teams there. as they are desperately trying to recover survivors. give us a sense of what you saw? >> reporter: yeah, this is a city closest to the epicenter. the first quake to hit 4:00 yesterday morning and also the subsequent after shock at about 1 1:24, and we've seen throughout the day the devastation to this particular older part of town. some older buildings here. but as deusk passed, we saw one body of a nine-year-old girl mourned by her father over her and another body brought out to join her, left on the sidewalk at times as medical crews struggle to keep up with the number of bodies they find. but also, too, a number of moments of hope. we've seen four separate cases of bodies brought out of the rubble over here alive. one young man, a 21-year-old man, abdullah, just caught in the gap in a rubble and brought out in tact, completely unscathed for what have been 40 plus hours in the rubble here.

>> cnn's nick paton walsh, near the epicenter in turkey.n.com/impact to learn more. >>> in today's world lead, a step towards justice, for families of victims of the lockerbie terror attacks. a libyan man accused of making the bomb that took down pan am flight 103, pleaded not guilty in a court here in washington, d.c. today. in december 1988, that plane crashed in lockerbie scotland, after taking off from london, on its way to new york, when a bomb detonated in the cargo area. 270 passengers and crew members were killed, including 190 americans, 35 of whom were syracuse university students who were returning from a semester abroad. he faces three charges, including destruction of an aircraft, resulting in death. he has another hearing in two weeks. he faces life in prisson if convicted. >>> coming up, mike pence says it's time for new leadership in the republican party. why hasn't he announced a challenge to donald trump yet? one of his closest advisers is here live, next. man: i responded to the call. woman: i didn't know if he was guilty

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crate to nick paton walsh live in turkey near the disaster zone. what's latest?er: yeah, you can see the sign behind me. the town hit closest to the epicenter of this startling tragedy. turkey getting its head around it at the moment. one the major problem about getting aid. part of the road missing and that's causing a delay in getting people out of the areas. we have seen the road jammed with people getting out. on the sides of it, because of the appalling weather, people have been in car accidents. but startling numbers here. we have gone from 24 hours ago a few hundred to 5,000 deaths, over 20,000 injured. as i say, the weather a real problem here. now it's clear we have had intermittent horizontal snaurnls coming at us here. you can hear sirens on the road. we have seen three, four ambulances rushing past. we think that's from the town impacted that we are not far from. this is across the border of turkey with syria. a consistent disaster. the town significantly hit fourth east as well. and that is inside turkey which has declared a state of emergency for th

joining us now is nick paton walsh.t can you tell us about the rescue effort where you, are particularly when it comes to children? >> reporter: yeah, i have to say, victor, you know, we stood here 24 hours ago and had episodes of hope and joy to talk to you about, but in the last hour i've seen one, possibly two, body bags brought from inside the rubble here taken away in metal trays. often we're seeing hearses to take away dead bodies. the tone has changed as that important window that they had to get people out from under the rubble began to evaporate. it is utterly freezing cold here and, of course, those trapped inside the rubble will be feeling that the hardest. pace at which the excavators, you might be able to see behind me here, the pace at which they worked today. yesterday it was about probing and trying to hear signs of life and trying to get people out. today it's really about getting through as fast as they can. you're seeing the remains of a 4-year-old girl taken away in a blanket, an 8-year-old girl kill

nick paton ton walsh, thank youy much. >>> what's the latest, salma?huge humanitarian crisis in turkey but south to syria the situation is more dire. there are fears that aid is being politicize. access is limited by the syrian government. the impact is devastating on the ground. this is what funerals look like in the quake zone. burials en masse. there are too many bodies. baby clothes are all that remain of nassir's little girl. she died in her mother's arms. her mom is dead, too. this is a little note written by his daughter, also killed in the earthquake. you are my heart, it reads. and now his heart is broken. six of his children and his wife killed in an instant. his home lies in ruins. we are used to air strikes, but this, an act of god, he says, i kept calling out my children's nape names, no one answered. this a rebel-held area syria ravaged by war. residents are all too familiar with death. they can endure no more. in government-controlled areas, there is relatively more assistance. as the crisis entered its fifth day, president assad toured

. >> nick paton walsh, thanks so much for that. >>> today a california-based o organization direct relief sending medical and humanitarian aid to turkey and syria. mike, tell us more about this effort. >> reporter: sure, fred. the name of the game is to get 17 tons of supplies out of this 3 1/2 acre warehouse on a direct flight from lax down the 101/405 freeway all the way to istanbul, a 13-hour flight. let's give you a tour to show you all these pallets are bound for turkey. those exclusively white pallets are bound for syria. they're going to go from los angeles to istanbul, cross the border and get to syria by the middle of the next week. if we walk over here, we're going to show you in terms of what's in these boxes, we have these sturdy backpacks meant for first responders. we have bandages, a makeshift tour tourniquet, water purification tablets. take a listen to what we heard about the two main types of supplies bound for turkey and sy syria. >> it's a combination of two things. the first set of supplies are to address really the acute emergency, so crush wounds, more critical care

here's chief correspondent nick paton walsh. >> reporter: some of the most densely populated areas. behind me here, multiple apartment blocks have been laid down and have, over the past hour or so, been bringing out the dead, laid in bags, some without them knowing who they belong to and others with the words with owner written upon them and names. it is a grizzly and slow process we 'seeing happening all day. there was a brief moment of hope, we saw rescue workers rush towards one building, part of a street that the basement, first and second floor had been crushed but the buildings were still upright somehow. and in the crushed basement areas they found they had hoped an 8-year-old girl alive. her body brought out, her mother as well alive and discovered as they put her in the ambulance she had perished. moments of hope and anxiety when voices are heard sometimes in the rubble here. this vast city, some of the areas of which some buildings are fine and upright. others are tilting at an angle, others are demolished. and the anger here is acute. anger at the initial government respo

cnn's nick paton walsh is in southeast turkey with more on the rescue operations there. >> reporter: at times the city can be early quiet, silence falling, almost ghostly, when rescue crews join with each other and try and silence the excavators so they can hear more closely the noises that may be emanating from the rubble for the possibility that somebody is still conscious or trying to cry out for help after over 100 hours. and sometimes they see success. what you're about to see, 109 hours after the tremors. >> over 100 hours after the worst quake in nearly 100 years and still there are lights that won't go out. naked feet, a reminder this happened in everyone's sleep. and this new dawn so welcome, no better way to show you're alive than this smile. the crowds at each site, larger, louder in success, the number of living buried is smaller. this woman's husband was pulled out moments before her. they don't have to go far to be reminded how so many searches end. the preciousness of each moment of hope is most acute here, where military helicopters and ambulances, form a stream, rush

cnn's nick paton walsh just filed this report from the region. >> reporter: in the town closest to thepicenter, two simultaneous rescue separations going on. in there, a 64-year-old woman, her son heard her voice, he says, this morning. and he thinks she's in fact still lying in the bed where she was when the earthquake struck but they're patiently digging in there, taking a pillow for comfort. you can see over here, from the wreckage. a scene constantly unfolding around us here. there is a desperate local need for more government help and they're doing a lot of this themselves. the second rescue attempt that's happening is just up there, a 12-year-old boy has been found healthy the rubble. and the rescuers are having to dig their way in slowly down towards. let me just show you while we still have light here. quite devastation it is. very few apartments are standing at this time. a building has fallen and split in two. excavators and their hands in turn, being used, to try to get to anybody who may still be alive. because the hours are running short, the light is running out. it is bi

. >> the impos built of hope as you just heard nick paton walsh say as we look at the heartbreaking imagesyria and turkey. more than 21,000 people have been killed. that number is likely to rise. there are lives still being saved if, you can believe it. take a look at this. this is a mornlg and daughter being pulled out of the rubble in turkey. 92 hours after the earthquake struck. the daughter is waving on the stretcher as carried to an ambulance. nearby, two sisters also less ke rescued from the rubble. joining us now is former nba player and human rights activist, enes kanter freedom. thank you very much. good morning. we can't put our -- >> thank you for having me. >> we cannot put ourselves in your shoes. can you tell us how your family is? you've been able to reach some but not all. >> yes. it's definitely been one of the most biggest heartbreaking disasters that turkey ever faced. and i have been trying to reach out to tell my family members, we have not heard from them yet. close to, you know, between turkey and syria, close to 22,000 people died. and so right now my condolences an

cnn's nick paton-walsh starts us off now from an takia, turkey right near the syrian border where these than 21,000 people now killed. >> reporter: rescuers rush in. these buildings' first three floors have collapsed down but left their upper floor

i want to begin with nick paton walsh and his exclusive reporting speaking to russian convicts. >> reporter: any joy here is fleeting, this dance could be their last. russian soldiers, most convicts here, living it up hours before being sent to the front lines. they fight to be pardoned, but here over half died at the fronts, survivors said, even some after they had lived through the battles. ♪ victor was jailed for armed robbery and assault, but taken out of prison and thrown into the worst fighting outside of soledar. his unit joking here before they assault a factory the next day, suffered catastrophic casualties, he told his wife. victor survived, but as he lay injured in hospital, he fears being dragged from his bed and executed for poor performance. this is his last message to his wife. [ speaking non-english ] >> reporter: days later his wife got a closed coffin back after a call from a soldier who said victor had died from that rappel injuries. he's buried here outside moscow. there's something very different, though, to many of the prisoners sent to the front line to make up for ru

>> nick paton walsh with that incredible report. thank you so much.doctors without borders. good to see you again. as the clock continues to tick, the weather gets colder, what is the most urgent need on the ground right now? >> well, i would say quite obviously, it's the search and rescue operation. the ideal window is to be able to bring people out within 48 hours. it's highly risky and the likelihood of finding people alive diminishes and then from there, you've got people with catastrophic injuries. we've seen time and again with earthquakes that that is not only a need for trama care but then it's infection control. it's management of their postoperative care, rehabilitation, reconstruction of the hospitals themselves and meanwhile, you've got babies being born. our own team, we run a burns unit in the city and we redeployed from that medical team to the surgical hospitals but there was also a maternity ward where we had to evacuate all the mothers, the newborns and sometimes you're evacuating to facilities, other hospital structures that frankly

nick paton walsh went to a field hospital to see how patients are being treated in desperate circumstances. >> reporter: the monsignor of government much more in evidence as we saw outside one of the major hospitals here in antakya. the cleanup continuing, but it is so often now dead bodies they're retrieving, but at the helle pad we saw there are still it seems some extraordinary moments of relief through desperation. a 3-year-old girl on a stretcher along with her 2 month old sister we understood from rescuers being put on to a helicopter there, flown away from hospitals that are overstretched, also some intensely damaged and lacking in power to other parts of turkey for treatment. and then another series of ambulances, at times helicopters having to stop taking off, wait a bit longer so another ambulance could deliver its load on board. one helicopter we saw two infants, one stretcher brought up, we thought extraordinary how small the individual it seems to be, we realized there were two infants on board being put on to the helicopter. but the desperation here beginning, i think, to mou

cnn's nick paton walsh joining us from one turkey's hardest hit cities.racing right, now what have you seen throughout the day today? >> yes anderson, people here as though they haven't been hit with enough. today was what remains of hope here slowly disappeared. the silence behind me in particular. staggering given that 24 hours ago this would be the scene of intense activity. people slowly probing through the rubble to try to find any survivors. hope for that really is gone. the excavators falling silent. and you can see next to me the fire burning from the rubble here. simply put by people to keep themselves warm. to get through the night because we are dealing with a homelessness crisis here along with the tens of thousands of dead across turkey. here is what we saw today. so close to the epicenter. >> it's hard to imagine how this rubble gave anyone hope. yet, for 50 or so hours after the quake, it almost. and when it stop, when the chances of surviving. the bodies, so near the epicenter here kept coming. >> the paralysis of grief, when these two par

>> nick paton walsh.spondent ara damon is the founder of an international network for aid relief and assistance which works with children from conflict areas. her teams are working the ground in turkey. she's trying to get aid into syria. she joins us now from istanbul. arwa, when you first heard about this quake, i know you were actually in the united states doing work for your charity. you spent so much time in the region. what have you been seeing and hearing from people on the ground? >> reporter: it's of such a scale, anderson, that it's like this multi-headed monster that no one really knows how to describe or even how to deal with. i mean those of us who worked in the region, my office was based in gaziantep. two of my staff were in hatay. one of them was visiting her family. they barely got out alive. their apartment is flattened. my country manager ran out with his children as he said the walls were crumbling around him. i mean my stomach fell. i felt physically ill. and, you know, right now we'v

nick paton walsh is "outfront" in turkey tonight on his way to the disaster zone. will see in his piece is disturbing. >> reporter: not everyone woke up today. dozens of children pulled from under the rubble in this rebel-held syrian town, their lifeless bodies lining the corridors of the overwhelmed hospital. >> children and women, and there is a lot, a lot and we receive more and more every hours. >> reporter: the destruction knew more borders. a magnitude 7.8 earthquake and over 100 powerful aftershocks flattened buildings in turkey and syria. near the epicenter in turkey, people woke up to the sight of their worlds demolished, wondering if their neighbors are still alive under the rubble. >> translator: as soon as the shaking slowed down, we threw ourselves outside. by the dawn we started looking for our relatives. we have losses, and there are several people we still can't reach. at the moment, two voices are coming from the rubble. >> reporter: aftershocks caught rescuers and journalists by surprise, some almost as powerful as the first earthquake. reducing t

our nick paton walsh is live on the ground in turkey near the quake zone. thank you for being there. this weather complicating all of these search and rescue efforts. >> reporter: yeah, poppy, we are heading closer to the epicenter of kahramanmaras where this struck essentially at two times. a significant aftershock of 7.5, a major earthquake, frankly, anywhere else in the world, hitting also in the same region. you can see some of the damage. the other side of the traffic, a constant flow of people, ambulances, heading out from this area. so hard to get some of the aid in. from istanbul a constant stream of ambulances, fire engines, excavations. the job is starting but under enormous time pressure. i'm standing here in brilliant sunshine but every once in a while we get a dense horizontal snowstorm that comes in that makes it hard for aircraft, very dangerous on the roads. these highways lined with smashed cars that have been in accidents on the way here. that's another rescue job for people to try to achieve. kahramanmaras the epicenter, as i said, signif

cnn's nick paton walsh spent the morning on the ground getting a firsthand look at the devastation. >ee that the excavations have moved into trying to reduce the rubble. we have seen glimmers of help at a helipad just outside a field hospital here. some extraordinary images as helicopters now part of the machinery of government that is quite palpable here now. turkish naval helicopters coming in, sometimes a frequency of 20 minutes, and filling up with survivors brought in ambulances at a great rate. >> on top of the death and destruction is a growing humanitarian crisis. hundreds of thousands of people now in -- they are homeless in the freezing cold with little food, water, and medicine. cnn went to a camp that is housing displaced survivors. >> reporter: as you can see behind me, you've got these piles of clothes, shoes, blankets, and we've been seeing children, mothers, fathers, coming through and just looking through these piles trying to find shoes that fit for the kids, warm clothes, blankets, and then on the other side here, you've got the turkish military distributing basic f

cnn's nick paton walsh got a look at what this effort involves. >> reporter: very few of the apartments area are standing, a building over there seems to basically be split in two, and here excavators and bare hands in turn being used to try and get to anybody who might still be alive because the hours are running short. the light is running out. it is bitterly cold, and you can see everywhere fires people have already lit to try to keep themselves warm in these conditions. they will just get worse as will the chances of themm being able to pull their loved ones out. >> in syria, a little girl comforted her siblings as rescuers worked to pull them from the rubble. just take a look at their faces. thankfully they were both pulled out alive. a u.s. search and rescue people will arrive in the quake zone tomorrow. our spokesperson for the international rescue committee joins us now along with the florida task force 1 response team doctor joins us. this is a race against the clock right now. past quakes have shown us that the past three days are very serious in terms of survivors right now.