Turkey: Massive Earthquake hits southern city with many victims reported

Israel has said it will send search and rescue and medical teams to both Turkey and Syria.

"This is what we do around the world and this is what we do in areas close to us," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said it was in response to a request from the Turkish government and one which was "also received to do this" for victims in Syria, without specifying the source.

Syria does not recognise Israel and the two countries have been in a state of war since 1948.

Still looking for survivors!

Israel and Turkey only restored diplomatic ties in August after Turkey broke off relations after a deadly incident in 2010.

On a busy main street in the southern city of Adana right next to a huge pile of rubble and debris from a building that has just completely collapsed on to its foundations.

The buildings either side are still standing, but police have just told me that they have concerns about another building close by they fear may be at risk of collapse.

They've moved people right back to the other side of the road, and they've put blue and white police tape to hold people back.

People have come to see this collapsed building and perhaps to get news of friends and loved ones - many people are just watching quietly the beginnings of this rescue operation.

The death toll in Turkey from this morning's earthquake has risen again to 1,498, according to the country's disaster management agency.

The combined death toll from the initial quake in Turkey and Syria now stands at more than 2,300 after 810 people were confirmed dead in Syria, the AFP news agency reports.

I just watched a rescuer with a sniffer dog who walked on to the pile of rubble, using the dog to try and work out if there's anybody underneath.

You can see crushed metal, broken glass, and you can see where a whole floor of the building has slipped sideways - it looks reasonably intact and it's just pancaked down on to the floors below.

The rescue operation is continuing: I just watched a large digger with a hook and an earth mover to push the rubble away move in, and around 10 police officers have also arrived to try and secure the scene.

They're doing what they can with the sniffer dog and then they'll move in this large digger to try and move the pile of debris and work out what's underneath.

A rescue operation is under way across much of southern Turkey and northern Syria following a huge earthquake that has killed more than 2,300 people

The 7.8 magnitude quake struck near Gaziantep in the early hours of Monday while people were asleep

A new 7.5-magnitude tremor hit at around 13:30 local time (10:30 GMT), which officials said was "not an aftershock"

The country's disaster agency says some 1,500 people were killed in Turkey alone after the first quake, and more than 5,300 were wounded

Syrian authorities are reporting 810 dead and more than 2,000 injured, according to the AFP news agency

Rescuers are racing to save people trapped beneath the rubble after hundreds of buildings collapsed in both countries

World leaders have pledged to send aid after Turkey issued an international appeal for help

Millions of people across Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel felt the earthquake.

The death toll from a strong earthquake in south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, has exceeded 2,300 people across both countries.

Turkey's disaster agency said more than 1,500 people died there, while it is estimated that 810 people died in Syria.

Those numbers are still expected to rise as rescuers comb through mountains of rubble in freezing, snowy weather.

It is Turkey's worst disaster in decades, the country's president said.

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.

Seismologists said the first quake was one of the largest ever recorded in Turkey. Survivors said it took two minutes for the shaking to stop.

Latest updates as death toll rises in Turkey and Syria

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Twelve hours later, a second quake, which had a magnitude of 7.5, hit Turkey's Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province.

An official from Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said it was "not an aftershock" and was "independent" from the earlier quake.