In Turkey, a total of 912 people had died in the quake, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday. More than 2,000 were injured, Vice President Fuat Oktay said earlier.
Some 248 people have been killed in Syrian government-held areas, assistant health minister Ahmed Dhamiriyeh told state television. More than 700 were wounded, he said.
The chairman of Syrian American Medical Society, Bassel Termanini, told dpa that his organization – which covers about 50% of the health care in opposition areas – was reporting 138 killed so far and more than 600 seriously injured, mainly in areas in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib.
Four hospitals in the opposition areas have been damaged and evacuated, he added.
Hamid al Koutani, an Idlib spokesman for the White Helmets, who work only in opposition areas, said: “Hospitals are overwhelmed with seriously injured people, we are struggling to save people.”
Stormy weather has made evacuations more difficult, he added.
“People are removing the rubble by hand to save their loved ones,” Abdel Kafi, an activist in the countryside of Aleppo, told dpa.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been monitoring the violence in Syria since 2011, told dpa: “The casualties are very high in regime controlled areas and the rescue teams are too small to meet the demands of this catastrophe.”
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad chaired an emergency meeting of the Cabinet to discuss the damage and necessary procedures.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said that there had been at least 42 aftershocks.
Several countries have offered help. Rescue teams from the Netherlands and Romania are on their way to Turkey, European Union Crisis Commissioner Janez Lenarcic wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The deployment of the rescue teams is coordinated by the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre in Brussels, Lenarcic wrote.
“Greece will help immediately,” said Greek head of government Kyriakos Mitsotakis, offering aid to Ankara despite tensions between his country and Turkey.
Italy’s civil defence has also offered its help, according to the government in Rome on Monday morning.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday expressed his solidarity and announced support for alliance member Turkey.
“Full solidarity with our Ally Türkiye in the aftermath of this terrible earthquake,” Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.
“NATO Allies are mobilizing support,” he wrote, adding that he has been in touch with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Senior EU officials also expressed their solidarity. “We stand in full solidarity with the people of Türkiye and Syria after the deadly earthquake that hit this morning,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell wrote “our thoughts are with the people of Türkiye and Syria.”
“My thoughts are with those killed, those trapped, those injured and with all rescuers doing their utmost to save lives,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola wrote on Twitter.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed her solidarity on Twitter and added: “Together with our partners, we stand ready to provide assistance.”
“Germany will of course send aid,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote in another tweet
