More than 2,700 people have died in the earthquake that struck south-eastern Turkey

It has been predicted that the death toll may rise by eightfold in south-eastern Turkey, near Syria's border.

Thousands of people are being searched for trapped in damaged buildings in Diyarbakir, north of Gaziantep. ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

After the first earthquake struck early on Monday, the death toll has risen rapidly to more than 2,700 people.

Another powerful tremor struck farther north about 12 hours later.

It has been freezing and snowing as rescuers search for survivors in mountains of rubble.

Specialist teams, sniffer dogs, and equipment are being sent from around the world to assist with rescue efforts.

The US Geological Survey said the 7.8 magnitude tremor struck at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) at a depth of 17.9km (11 miles) near the city of Gaziantep.

One of Turkey's largest seismic events ever recorded, according to seismologists.

There were two minutes between the shaking and the end of it, according to survivors.

Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province was the epicentre of the second quake, which had a magnitude of 7.5.

It was an independent tremor and not an aftershock, said an official of Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority.

Turkey has recorded more than 1,650 deaths, while Syria has recorded more than 1,000.

Upon finding more victims in the rubble, the WHO warns that those numbers could grow eightfold.

"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," explained Catherine Smallwood, WHO's European emergency officer.

In addition to the dangers caused by the snowy conditions, Ms Smallwood added that many people will be without shelter.

In addition to 9,700 injuries in Turkey, at least 2,000 injuries have been reported in Syria. There has also been a steady increase in those numbers.

Millions of Syrian refugees live in camps along both sides of the Syrian-Turkish border in war-torn northern Syria. A number of fatalities have been reported in rebel-held areas.

In several videos, onlookers can be seen running for cover when thousands of buildings collapsed. There are huge mountains of rubble as far as the eye can see and many buildings that were four to five storeys high have been flattened. Roads have also been destroyed.

Gaziantep Castle, an ancient landmark that has stood for more than 2,000 years, was among the buildings destroyed.

There was also a collapse of a shopping mall in Diyarbakir.

In southern Turkey, large fires have been filmed, and the energy infrastructure has also been damaged. Gas pipeline damage was cited as the cause by social media users.

It was confirmed that significant damage had been caused to the infrastructure, but the explosions were not mentioned by Fatih Donmez, Turkey's energy minister.

Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis were among the cities affected by the initial quake, according to Turkish interior minister Suleymon Soylu.

In those cities, school has been suspended for at least a week.

source: BBC