Turkey and Syria earthquake death toll near 11,500 as Erdoğan defends response

Turkish president visits devastated region amid anger at what many see as slow and inadequate rescue effort

• Turkey and Syria earthquake: follow latest updates

The death toll from the huge earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria has risen to nearly 11,500, as rescuers continued to pull survivors from the freezing rubble and the Turkish president rejected growing criticism of the authorities’ response.

Making his first visit to the region since the 7.8- and 7.5-magnitude quakes hit within hours of each other on Monday, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday acknowledged early problems with Turkey’s response but insisted it was now working well.