Image source, Reuters

The number of fatalities in Turkey and Syria following two earthquakes within hours of each other may continue to rise significantly, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

More than 2,600 people are said to have died in the two countries, with that figure continuing to rise amid ongoing search-and-rescue operations.

"There's continued potential of further collapses to happen so we do often see in the order of eight-fold increases on the initial numbers," the WHO's senior emergency officer for Europe Catherine Smallwood told the AFP news agency.

"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."

Since the initial 7.8 magnitude quake struck southern Turkey, near the northern border of Syria, at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT), the toll has swiftly risen as rescuers battle to locate survivors trapped under the rubble of thousands of collapsed buildings.

Kathryn Armstrong
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The Syrian war-torn city of Aleppo is among the areas to have borne the brunt of Monday's deadly earthquakes, which also devastated parts of southern Turkey.

Emergency rescue teams said many buildings were damaged or destroyed and that people remain trapped under the rubble.

The region is home to millions of refugees displaced by the civil war.

It is one of the places controlled by the Syrian government, which is still fighting opposition forces.

Parts of the surrounding countryside are controlled by the rebels.

Many areas in the city were already in ruins as a result of the conflict before the quake hit.

More than 1,000 people have been reported dead so far in northern Syria following the quake.

However, it’s not entirely clear how many deaths have occurred in Aleppo.

Read more here.

The earthquakes that devastated parts of southern Turkey are now reported to have left more than 1,000 people dead in northern Syria.

The death toll in government-controlled areas rose to 570, according to the country's health ministry, as reported by the AFP news agency.

In rebel-held parts of the country's north-west, at least 430 people were killed, according to the White Helmets rescue group.

Control of northern Syria is divided between the government, Kurdish-led forces and other rebel groups. They remain embroiled in conflict.

Read more here.

Thousands of people across Turkey have been displaced by the earthquake. Many fled their homes in the middle of the night when the quake struck.

Some centres have been set up to provide food and shelter. These pictures taken in Diyarbakir, south-east Turkey, show hundreds of people queing for food and taking refuge in local government buildings.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Finding out what’s true, and what isn’t, can be tricky in a world of disinformation and fake news.

In our podcast How we know... the BBC's Disinformation Correspondent, Marianna Spring, takes you through what's happening behind the scenes, including verifying online videos, speaking to eyewitnesses on the ground - as well as keeping tabs on conspiracy theories.

Listen to today's podcast How we know... what's happening in Turkey here.

Image source, Reuters

Turkey has declared seven days of mourning after at least 1,650 people died following two earthquakes which struck the country today.

"A national mourning period has been declared for seven days. Our flag will be hoisted at half-mast until sunset on Sunday, 12 February 2023, in all our national and foreign representative offices," tweeted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan., external

It comes after Turkish government officials reported another 1,651 fatalities, putting the combined total in Turkey and neighbouring Syria to 2,651.

Dozens of nations have pledged aid since the 7.8-magnitude quake, which hit as people were still sleeping and in freezing weather that has hampered emergency efforts.

Multi-storey apartment buildings full of residents were among the 3,400 structures reduced to rubble in Turkey, while Syria announced dozens of collapses, as well as damage to archaeological sites in Aleppo.

If you're just joining us or need a catch-up, here's the latest on the ongoing situation in Turkey and Syria:

The death toll... from a strong earthquake in south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, has exceeded 2,600 people across both countries - and it's expected to keep rising

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake... struck near the southern city of Gaziantep, and is understood to have caused the majority of fatalities, while a second quake of 7.5 magnitude hit 80 miles north near the city of Kahramanmaras

Rescuers are combing... through mountains of rubble in freezing, snowy weather with one Kahramanmaras resident comparing the situation to an "apocalypse"

Image source, .

Many thousands of people... have been injured, with at least 9,700 people hurt in Turkey and 2,000 in Syria

A White Helmets rescue group volunteer... said many families "remained under the rubble" and rescuers were "trying to save them"

The EU... is sending search and rescue teams to Turkey, while rescuers from the Netherlands and Romania are already on their way. The UK has said it will send 76 specialists, equipment and rescue dogs

We are seeing more of the after-effects of the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey earlier on Monday, with pictures of destroyed religious buildings in Iskenderun and Malatya.

Image source, .

Image source, .

Marianna Spring
Disinformation and social media correspondent

There’s lots of distressing and shocking footage from the aftermath of today's earthquakes circulating on social media. But chaos and confusion can be a fertile time for misleading videos to spread.

Here’s three ways you can check out what you’re seeing online before you share it:

• Interrogate the video. Are there clues that this is the right location? Are there notable landmarks? Does the weather or the time of day fit with the story? What language are people speaking?
• Be wary of old footage. Some clips from tsunamis have so far circulated online. Ask whether what you’re seeing matches up with other footage you’ve come across
• Pause before you share. Content like this is frightening and emotional, which can mean we’re more inclined to re-share it and react. But double-check something is true and verified before posting it

Later today, we’ll be telling you more about how we’re piecing together the truth of what’s happening using social media.

Drone footage shows the aftermath of the initial quake in Sarmada, a town in the countryside of the north-western Syrian Idlib province.

Members of the Syrian civil defence, known as the White Helmets, are helping rescue teams search for casualties under the rubble.

The death toll across Syria and Turkey, where both quakes hit, is continuing to rise.

Image source, PA Media

The Ghana Football Association has asked fans to "pray" for former Chelsea and Newcastle forward Christian Atsu, who has reportedly been trapped under rubble caused by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey.

Both Atsu, 31, and his Hatayspor Sporting Director Taner Savut were left under rubble after the quake, leading Turkish sport presenter Yagız Sabuncuoglu, external reported.

Hatayspor is the main club in Hatay, one of the cities affected by the quakes that have killed at least 2,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

The Ghana FA said in a tweet, external: "We pray for Ghana International Christian Atsu and victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

"We continue with our efforts to establish contact with officials of Hatayspor and the Turkish Football Federation, considering the difficult situation."

Read more here.

The UK is sending a team of specialists to help with the rescue operation in Turkey.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has confirmed a team of 76 people, along with trained dogs and equipment, will be sent.

Responding to an urgent question in the House of Lords, Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said rescuers would leave the UK on a charter flight on Monday evening and arrive in Turkey at 23:00 GMT.

He added they would start work "within the critical 72 hours".

Countries around the world have confirmed or offered support for rescue efforts in south-east Turkey and Syria since the scale of the disaster started to become clear.

The British Red Cross has immediately released £25,000 from its Disaster Fund to support the immediate response and will support this with a full emergency appeal.

Chief Executive Mike Adamson said: “It is shocking to see the scale of destruction caused by this earthquake - more than 1,000 people have been killed and homes, hospitals and roads have been destroyed across the region.

“The priority right now is rescuing people from the rubble and Red Cross Red Crescent teams are on the ground in Syria and Turkey providing urgent support during these critical hours.”

Image source, Reuters

The death toll in Turkey following Monday morning's earthquakes has risen to 1,541, according to the country's vice-president.

Fuat Oktay says more than 9,700 people have been injured after the two quakes struck the south and south-east of the country today.

He did not go into how many casualties, if any, resulted from the second quake.

There were 145 aftershocks following both quakes, three of whose magnitudes were larger than 6.0, he added.

Some 3,500 buildings had been destroyed, Oktay also said, as rescuers continued to search through the debris in freezing conditions looking for survivors.

As we've been reporting, southern Turkey was hit by two earthquakes today and in the hours since, dozens of aftershocks have been reported across the region.

The map above shows the strength of the aftershocks, as well as their locations relative to the quakes' epicentres.

As can be seen, a number of the shocks had a magnitude approaching 6, which would normally be a sizeable earthquake in its own right.

Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The Earth's crust is made up of separate bits, called plates, that nestle alongside each other.

These plates often try to move, but are prevented by the friction of rubbing up against an adjoining one. But sometimes, the pressure builds until one plate suddenly jerks across, causing the surface to move.

In this case, it was the Arabian plate moving northwards and grinding against the Anatolian plate.

Friction from the plates has been responsible for very damaging earthquakes in the past.

On 13 August 1822, it caused an earthquake registering 7.4 in magnitude, significantly less than the 7.8 magnitude recorded today.

Even so, the 19th-Century earthquake resulted in immense damage to towns in the area, with 7,000 deaths recorded in the city of Aleppo alone. Damaging aftershocks continued for nearly a year.

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Image source, EPA

The epicentres of today’s earthquakes were on the Turkish side of the border, but for thousands of Syrians on the other side, this natural disaster compounds 12 years of suffering and civil war.

North-west Syria, the area affected, is home to both Syrian government forces and nearby rebel-held areas.

Following the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, Syrian forces have been pounding the rebel-held areas with help from the Russian air force.

Schools, clinics and hospitals have been damaged or destroyed and the persistent aerial bombing had already rendered many buildings unsafe, even before the earthquakes struck.

Carsten Hansen, the Middle East regional director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said: "This is a disaster that will worsen the suffering of Syrians already struggling with a severe humanitarian crisis. Millions have already been forced to flee by war in the wider region and now many more will be displaced by disaster."

Compounding their misery is the winter weather which has brought torrential rain and even snow, further hampering rescue efforts.

For the affected residents of north-west Syria, the earthquakes are the latest in a series of devastating blows after years of war and the virtual collapse of medical infrastructure. Getting aid into these areas will be even harder than in Turkey.

We have more reaction from world leaders to news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, with US President Joe Biden saying he is deeply saddened by the loss of life there.

He also pledged to provide assistance to support the rescue effort.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has also offered his condolences to Turkey's President Erdogan and to the victims' families.

In a tweet, external, he added Ukraine was ready to provide assistance "to overcome the consequences of the disaster".

In this video, a building crashes to the ground after two aftershocks take place, causing a reporter and his team to run in panic in Malatya, south-eastern Turkey.

More than 2,000 people have died across both Turkey and Syria, after two major earthquakes struck on Monday.

Image source, Reuters

The scale of the disaster in Turkey is "widespread and devastating", according to an adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Almost 1,500 people have been confirmed dead in Turkey and more than 800 in neighbouring Syria, with the death toll expected to continue rising.

lnur Cevik says resources are not the problem in trying to find survivors, but rather that it's a race against time.

"You are working against time," he told BBC World Service's Newshour programme.

"The adverse weather conditions and people that are under the rubble, you have to save them before the weather drops in and kills these people because of the cold, so people who are now under the rubble, there's a mad rush to get them out.

"We have radars, body sensors, but you know there's so much widespread devastation that you can't reach everywhere - some of it you have to listen [for]... [People are asked to stay] silent so that they can hear some people calling for help."