More than 2,300 people have been killed after an earthquake devastated an area of central Türkiye and north-west Syria in the early hours of Monday morning. The earthquake struck at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) and was measured at a magnitude of 7.8, reducing buildings to rubble as people slept in their beds and sparking a desperate search for survivors. 

Experts say the epicenter of the earthquake was near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, 90 kilometers from the Syrian border, but millions of people in Türkiye, Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus felt its force and the subsequent aftershocks.

Türkiye's AFAD, The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, confirmed a second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck after 10:30 GMT with the city of Kahramanmaras at its epicenter. 

Kahramanmaras is situated 90 kilometers north of Gaziantep but it's not yet known the full extent of the damage caused by the second quake.

It's now been confirmed that more than 1,500 people have been killed in Türkiye alone, while a further 5,383 people have been wounded. He added that 2,818 buildings have collapsed. The death toll in Syria now stands at 810, according to news agency AFP.

In a short statement on Twitter, Türkiye's President Recep Erdogan said: "I convey my best wishes to all our citizens who were affected by the earthquake."

A woman living in an apartment block that was reduced to rubble in the southern city of Diyabakir described the devastation to Reuters: "We were shaken like a cradle. There were nine of us at home. Two sons of mine are still in the rubble, I'm waiting for them."

In response to the earthquake, Türkiye's government has closed schools across 10 cities for a week, while airports in Hatay, Maras, and Antep have been closed or partially closed. Political leaders across the U.S., Asia, and Europe have sent messages of support and pledged international assistance. 

The British foreign ministry says it will send 76 search and rescue specialists, four search dogs and rescue equipment that will arrive in Türkiye on Monday evening. The European Union has also dispatched search and rescue teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania to help.

China's State Aid Foreign Agency has also vowed to provide humanitarian emergency aid to both countries.

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However, there are fears that weather conditions in Türkiye over the coming days could hamper the rescue operation. 

Heavy rain is expected around the region of the first quake, while temperatures will be only 3-4 degrees Celsius during the day and well below freezing at night.

Around 3-5 centimeters of snow is also set to fall, while further north in Turkey, heavier snow is expected.

It was Türkiye's most severe quake since 1999, when one of similar magnitude devastated Izmit and the heavily populated eastern Marmara Sea region near Istanbul, killing more than 17,000.

The location of the earthquake is a vulnerable region called the East Anatolian fault, which runs south-west to north-west of the south-eastern border of Türkiye.

Seismologists have previously warned of the dangers of the fault line, but there hasn't been a significant earthquake for more than 100 years.

Video editing: Butchy Davy