More than 2,300 people dead in Turkey, Syria after 7.8-magnitude earthquake

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A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, killing more than 2,300 people and taking down countless buildings. 

The earthquake prompted a search for survivors in the rubble in cities and towns across the region. The death toll is expected to rise. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the numbers could increase as much as eight time as rescuers work to find more victims. 

"We always see the same thing with earthquakes, unfortunately, which is that the initial reports of the numbers of people who have died or who have been injured will increase quite significantly in the week that follows," the WHO's senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, told AFP.

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A car is seen under the wreckage of a collapsed building, in Azmarin town, in Idlib province, northern Syria.

Residents in both countries were awakened by the quake several hours before dawn and rushed outside to cold, rain and snow. Dozens of buildings in cities in the area were toppled.

Rescue workers and residents searched for survivors under the rubble of destroyed buildings in multiple cities in both countries.

In the Turkish city of Adana, witnesses said they heard one person calling for help from beneath the rubble of a building. 

"I don't have the strength to carry on," the person reportedly said. 

People and emergency teams rescue a person on a stretcher from a collapsed building in Adana, Turkey, on Monday. (IHA agency via AP)

In Diyarbakir, cranes and rescue teams worked through a pile of pancaked concrete floors that once made up an apartment building.

In Syria, the quake crushed opposition-held regions packed with about 4 million people displaced from other parts of Syria because of the country's continued civil war. Many live in decrepit conditions with limited health care. 

The quake came as the region is beset by Syria's 12-year civil war and refugee crisis. 

People and rescue teams try to reach trapped residents inside collapsed buildings in Adana, Turkey, on Monday. (IHA agency via AP)

At least 11 people were killed in the town of Atmeh, and many more were buried in the rubble, according to a doctor in the town, Muheeb Qaddour.

"We fear that the deaths are in the hundreds," Qaddour said of the rebel-held northwest. "We are under extreme pressure."

The quake could be felt as far away as Cairo. It was centered about 60 miles from the Syrian border.

At least 20 aftershocks followed the initial quake hours later, with the strongest measuring a magnitude of 7.5, Turkish authorities said.

People search through the wreckage of a collapsed building in Azmarin town, in Idlib province, northern Syria.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote on Twitter that search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to impacted areas.

"We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage," he wrote.

Nearly 1,500 people were killed in 10 Turkish provinces, with some 8,500 injured, according to the president of the country's disaster management agency. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed over 430 people, with some 1,280 injured, according to the Health Ministry. In the country’s rebel-held northwest, groups that operate there said the death toll was at least 380, with many hundreds injured.

Authorities in Turkey urged residents not to drive on the roads, as people attempting to leave the damaged areas caused traffic jams, hindering rescue efforts. Mosques around the region have opened up as a shelter for people unable to return to damaged homes as temperatures are around freezing.

Rescue workers and medical teams try to reach trapped residents in a collapsed building following an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey.

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In northwest Syria, the opposition's Syrian Civil Defense said the situation in the rebel-held region was "disastrous" and that entire buildings have collapsed and people are trapped under the rubble. The civil defense advised people to evacuate buildings and to gather in open areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered about 20 miles from Gaziantep. It was centered 11 miles deep.

The quake also woke up residents in Lebanon, shaking buildings for about 40 seconds. Many residents of Beirut ran out of their homes and took to the streets or drove in their cars away from buildings.

The Turkish Red Crescent, a humanitarian organization, asked residents to donate blood and said additional blood and medical supplies were being brought to the region. 

"We are shipping additional blood and blood products to the #Deprem region," the group tweeted. "We have National Blood Stocks for the first stage shipment in our Regional Blood Banks. However, we invite our citizens to donate blood throughout Turkey during the day for additional needs that may occur in the future."

The Associated Press contributed to this report