(TAP) - More than 1,300 people were killed and thousands injured on Monday when an earthquake struck central Turkey and northwest Syria, collapsing apartment blocks and heaping more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war.

The magnitude 7.8 quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was the worst to hit Turkey this century. It was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon.

Rescue workers operating in bitter winter weather pulled casualties from rubble across the region.

A second earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck southeastern Turkey's Kahramanmaras region on Monday, the country's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said.