
A powerful earthquake has struck a wide area in southeastern Turkey, near the border with Syria, killing more than 1,900 people and stranding many more.
The fatal tremors lasted about a minute and were felt as far away as Cyprus, Egypt and Lebanon. The US Geological Survey said the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck at 4:17 a.m. local time at a depth of 17.9 km (11 miles) near the city of Gaziantep.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleymon Soylu said 10 cities were affected: Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Dijarbakir and Kilis.
The number of people who have died in Syria as a result of this morning's earthquake has reached 783, according to figures quoted by the AFP news agency.
This marks a significant increase bringing the total number of casualties in Syria and Turkey to around 2,000. The death toll in Turkey has also risen to more than 1,000.