Hopes are waning to find more survivors under the rubble 3 days after the catastrophe of the Turkey and Syria earthquake, which claimed more than 16,000 lives and left tens of thousands injured, and its effects spread to millions of people in the two countries.

Although the largest number of casualties was recorded in Turkey, warnings continue of a steady rise in the death toll in northern Syria, amid weak capabilities, scarcity of resources, and the delay in the arrival of international aid necessary for search and rescue operations.

The residents of northern Syria face other dangers.

Civil defense sources told Al-Jazeera that the earthquake caused cracks in the Al-Taloul Dam on the Orontes River in rural Idlib, and that water flowed into the camp area north of Salqin as a result of these cracks.

According to the latest official data, the death toll from the earthquake in Turkey rose to 12,873, and the injured to 62,937.

In Syria, the death toll has risen to 3,162 across the country, and the number of injured has reached 5,685.