A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey with its epicenter near Gaziantep, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The tremor was felt at 04:17 (01:17 GMT) and had a depth of 17.9 kilometers.
Turkey’s official disaster management agency put the magnitude of the quake at 7.4.
The movement was also felt in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus, according to AFP correspondents.
Turkish authorities initially reported no deaths or injuries, but videos posted on social media show destroyed buildings in several cities in the country’s southeast.
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The USGS reported another magnitude 6.7 quake with an epicenter near the first one about 15 minutes later with a depth of 9.9 kilometers.
The southern region of Gaziantep is a major industrial and manufacturing center of Turkey.
Turkey is located in one of the most active seismic zones in the world.
In August 1999, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the northwest of the country, killing 17,000 people.