More than 2,200 people are dead a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and toppled buildings early Monday morning.
The quake struck 20 miles from Gaziantep.
Buildings also collapsed in northern Syria.
Severe aftershocks ‘like Armageddon’ also hit the region.
Residential buildings collapsed.
A little girl was pulled out from under the concrete.
WATCH:
According to reports, Syrians knelt in prayer thinking it was judgement day.
Reuters reported:
A huge earthquake killed more than 2,600 people across a swathe of Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, with freezing winter weather adding to the plight of the many thousands left injured or homeless and hampering efforts to find survivors.
The magnitude 7.8 quake brought down whole apartment blocks in Turkish cities and piled more devastation on millions of Syrians displaced by years of war.
The worst tremor to strike Turkey this century, it came before sunrise in harsh weather and was followed in the early afternoon by another large quake of magnitude 7.7.
“It was like the apocalypse,” said Abdul Salam al-Mahmoud, a Syrian in the northern town of Atareb. “It’s bitterly cold and there’s heavy rain, and people need saving.”
The second quake was big enough to bring down more buildings and, like the first, was felt across the region, endangering rescuers struggling to pull casualties from the rubble.