JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

The death toll from last week's earthquakes in Turkey and Syria is now above 33,000.

Rescue teams are recovering more and more bodies from beneath the rubble.

Officials say the number of dead will very likely grow much higher.

And as special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports, frustration at the pace of rescue operations is also growing.

Jane Ferguson: Rescue workers in Turkey refuse to give up on pulling whatever life they can from the ruins.

In the city of Adiyaman, amid the sprawling destruction, hundreds searched for the last miracle survivors.

On the street level, many here are speaking various languages as experts from around the world team up with Turkish workers, pooling global knowledge and strength on saving lives against the odds.

In this building, American rescue workers battle to reach the last known survivor inside, a nearly 200 strong team from the U.S. is coordinating disaster response here, helping find the living and treat the wounded.

Stephen Allen leads USAID's Disaster Assistance Response team in Turkey.

Have you ever dealt with natural disaster on this scale before?

STEPHEN ALLEN, USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team: I have not.

This is much bigger than anything we're used to seeing in the region.

This is on a scale that really blows the mind and it's really hard to comprehend.

Driving up here, driving through towns and then spending time in Adiyaman, I, frankly, was not expecting the level of destruction that we encountered.

Just the number of buildings that are completely destroyed, driving down any side street, any main street, you're going to come across piles of rubble, people are working on.

It is a tragedy, I think, beyond what most people can comprehend.

JANE FERGUSON: Yet few of these highly experienced professionals have seen something like this before.

The destruction here is beyond anything in their lifetime.

Elsewhere in Turkey, the rescue scenes continue to astound.

In Hatay, 10-year old Cudi was pulled from the rubble after being trapped for 147 hours.

Another team crawling through a collapsed building found a father and his five year old daughter promising them a drink of tea once they got out.

But for many, the rescues have been too slow and hope is fading.

DIDEM CELIK (through translator): The situation is beyond terrible here.

My mother and sister are still under the rubble and I can't reach them in any way.

My soul is gone.

They are dying under the rubble.

I'm dying here.

JANE FERGUSON: Thousands of buildings tumbled to the ground in these quakes, raising questions over how or if authorities enforced construction codes.

Turkish officials are now targeting more than 130 people for overseeing allegedly shoddy or illegal construction.

Across the border in Syria, the head of the World Health Organization visited quake victims today.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the need in the war ravaged country is great.

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, Director General, World Health Organization: The water supply has been damaged, and other infrastructure, so there could be diarrhea diseases or pneumonia, and we will support you with that.

JANE FERGUSON: Yet support is something few Syrians in the rebel controlled areas of the Northwest are getting.

While the world's experts painstakingly search for survivors in Turkey, Syrians have spent a week with no such help.

There will be no international crews coming here and sniffer dogs or medics waiting.

ZAHORA HAJJ, Earthquake Survivor (through translator): We were sleeping and when we woke up it was like a dream.

I tried to run out holding my little daughter, but as soon as we stepped onto the stairs, the building started to collapse.

We stayed in the dark for two hours under the destroyed building.

No one came to rescue us.

I asked the person nearby to clear the rubble until they found light or the sky.

JANE FERGUSON: We were able to travel here on a rare visit by international journalists.

Permissions to cross the border from Turkey into this restive area have been difficult for years.

In Syria, only the White Helmets are helping clear the rubble, and even they don't expect to find any survivors anymore.

Selwa Johar lives in this house with her children and grandchildren.

Much of her street has been destroyed.

Her neighbors perishing under the rubble.

Her house survived, but she doesn't trust it.

Do you feel safe when you sleep at night?

SELWA JOHAR, Earthquake Survivor (through translator): I don't feel safe, no.

Even until now.

We sleep in the streets.

We sleep here or in the car.

I put on a stove outside during the day in case something happens.

We run out.

JANE FERGUSON: Millions have been displaced by Syria's brutal 12-year civil war.

Now even those who finally managed to build humble homes are back in tents, joining thousands of other families bedding down in the winter cold tonight under nothing more than canvas.

For PBS News Weekend, I'm Jane Ferguson in Gaziantep, Turkey.