Turkey’s most devastating earthquake since 1939 required a massive rescue operation spread across 10 of Turkey’s 81 provinces. More than 6,000 buildings collapsed and workers from Turkey’s Afad disaster authority were themselves caught up in the earthquakes.

The UK’s aid effort to held survivors of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has reached more $63.7 million dollars in two days. A spokesman for the UN secretary general says now is the time “to put all politics aside” in delivering aid to regions in Syria devastated by Monday’s earthquake.

Stéphane Dujarric says the UN is “working with all the parties to get the aid through” to government and rebel-held areas in Syria and is “not interested in political finger pointing”. It comes after Syrian state media said the government there has approved the delivery of emergency aid to rebel-held parts of the country.

A border crossing between Armenia and Turkey opened for the first time in 35 years today to allow aid through after Monday’s earthquake, according to Turkish state media. Serdar Kilic, Turkey’s special envoy for dialogue with Armenia, said that five trucks with aid including medicine, food and water arrived in Turkey from the Alican border crossing this morning.

State news said this was the first time it had opened since 1988. An aftershock has been reported in the city of Gaziantep, Turkey. The US Geological Survey reported the shock had a magnitude of 4.5.