With temperatures set to fall to near freezing overnight, rescuers are now in a desperate race against time to reach scores of survivors who remain trapped under collapsed buildings and who are at risk of freezing to death before help arrives.
Their conditions - and those of people left homeless by the 7.8 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes - are set to worsen soon. Rain was falling on Monday and snowstorms that swept the country over the weekend are expected to last until Thursday.