Over 2,300 people from both Turkey and Syria have died as a result of a powerful earthquake that struck in the southeast of the country, close to the Syrian border. More than 1,500 people died in Turkey, according to the disaster service, while 810 people are thought to have died in Syria. Rescuers are still likely to find more people as they dig through piles of rubble in the bitterly cold and icy conditions. The country's president referred to it as Turkey's worst calamity in decades. According to the US Geological Survey, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in the city of Gaziantep at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) with a depth of 17.9 kilometres (11 miles). The initial earthquake was one of the biggest ever recorded in Turkey, according to seismologists. The survivors reported that the shaking didn't cease for two minutes. A second earthquake of magnitude 7.5 that had its epicentre in the Elbistan region of the Kahramanmaras province was triggered twelve hours later. The preceding earthquake was "independent" of this one, according to a disaster and emergency management authority official in Turkey.

Key Points

• Over 2,300 people from both Turkey and Syria have died as a result of a powerful earthquake that struck in the southeast of the country, close to the Syrian border.

• According to the US Geological Survey, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in the city of Gaziantep at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) with a depth of 17.9 kilometres (11 miles).

• A second earthquake of magnitude 7.5 that had its epicentre in the Elbistan region of the Kahramanmaras province was triggered twelve hours later. The preceding earthquake was "independent" of this one, according to a disaster and emergency management authority official in Turkey.