The sheer scale of the devastation of the earthquake and its aftershocks can be seen in social media photos and videos posted by people in Turkey and Syria. Eyewitnesses have also been speaking about what happened.
BBC News has been pulling together and verifying information.The tremors of the main quake – which happened at 04:17 local time – were felt more than a hundred miles in each direction from the epicentre – across southern Turkey and in northern Syria.
Witnesses described being shaken from their sleep and running to their cars for safety from the damaged buildings.
“I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I’ve lived,” said Erdem, living in the city of Gaziantep. “We were shaken at least three times very strongly, like a baby in a crib.”
BBC News has been piecing together what happened as the tremors struck and reverberated across Turkey and Syria – using personal testimony and social media posts which we have verified.
A rescue operation is under way across much of southern Turkey and northern Syria following a huge earthquake that has killed more than 2,600 people
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck near Gaziantep in the early hours of Monday while people were asleep
A new 7.5-magnitude tremor hit at around 13:30 local time (10:30 GMT), which officials said was “not an aftershock”
The country’s vice-president says some 1,500 people were killed in Turkey alone after the first quake, and more than 9,700 were wounded
Syrian authorities are reporting 810 dead and more than 2,000 injured, according to the AFP news agency
Rescuers are racing to save people trapped beneath the rubble after hundreds of buildings collapsed in both countries
World leaders have pledged to send aid after Turkey issued an international appeal for help
Millions of people across Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel felt the earthquake
