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Blackened families flocked to gymnasiums, hospital morgues or cemeteries in quake-hit areas in an attempt to find their missing relatives.
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The earthquake in Turkey and Syria 354
Tuba Yolcu is distraught by the news of her missing aunt and searches a gym where victims of the powerful earthquake that struck her hometown in Turkey lie in body bags.
"We hear that the authorities will no longer leave the bodies waiting for identification.
They will bury them 24 hours after they are discovered," says Yolju.
"God willing, let's find her," said the woman with worry written on her face, "Maritsa" reports.
Over 31,600 are already the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey
Monday's powerful earthquake with the epicenter Kahramanmarash in the southeastern part of the country caused an unprecedented catastrophe in Turkey and Syria, killing more than 33 thousand people.
"Each body will eventually be returned to its family," a prosecutor said, trying to reassure the families.
"Don't worry, blood samples are taken from every missing body," he assured.
Families unable to reach their loved ones during the rescue work are checking the bodies one by one in sacks or wrapped in blankets.
"We are showing the faces of their immediate relatives," commented an investigator to the "France Presse" agency.
Hearses deliver hundreds of bodies every hour to newly formed cemeteries, burying them one by one.
"If the identity is unknown, we take fingerprints and tooth samples and compare them to their relatives," said the investigator, who has a camera on his neck to monitor his actions.
About 2,000 bodies have been identified in the cemetery, which is full of freshly dug graves.
There is a database with uploaded photos of the unidentified corpses.
Next to the makeshift wooden tombstones with numbers instead of names in the newly formed cemeteries, people mourn their loved ones.
A woman sits near the grave and cannot stop crying.
The earthquake in Turkey and Syria
dead people
earthquake in Turkey