More than 3,700 people were killed and thousands injured on Monday when a huge earthquake struck central Turkey and northwest Syria, pulverizing apartment blocks and heaping more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war.
The magnitude 7.8 quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was the worst to strike Turkey this century. It was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon. It was followed in the early afternoon by another large quake, magnitude 7.7.
It was not immediately clear how much damage had been done by the second quake, also felt across the region as rescue workers were struggling to pull casualties from rubble in bitter weather.
"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," said a woman with a broken arm and injuries to her face, speaking in an ambulance near the wreckage of a seven-story block where she had lived in Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan revealed that 1,014 people were killed, 5,383 injured, and 2,818 buildings had collapsed in the country.
Erdogan said he could not predict how much the death toll would rise as search and rescue efforts continued.
Meanwhile, China said it is willing to provide emergency humanitarian assistance in accordance with the needs of earthquake victims.
Xu Wei, spokesman for the China International Development Cooperation Agency, said that China expresses its sympathies and concerns over the casualties and property losses in Turkey and Syria caused by the earthquake.
Live footage from Turkish state broadcaster TRT showed a building collapse in the southern province of Adana after the second quake. It was not immediately clear if the building was evacuated.
In Syria, the health ministry said about 430 people had been killed and 1,000 injured. In the Syrian rebel-held northwest, rescuers said 255 people had died.
