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On Monday, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay announced that the death toll from the devastating earthquake in Turkey had risen to 2,700, including dead and injured, while the Syrian Ministry of Health confirmed that about 1,000 people had died or been injured as a result of the earthquakes.

Oktay said, in press statements, that "the death toll of those who have lost their lives in southern Turkey as a result of the earthquakes has reached 284 people so far, while more than 2,323 others have been injured."

He added, "The earthquake caused the collapse of more than a thousand buildings in the states that were affected," stressing, "The suspension of flights and the disruption of education for a week in the areas affected by the earthquake."

For its part, the Syrian Observatory reported that the number of victims as a result of the earthquake in northern Syria rose to more than 320, and the injured to more than 640.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey near the city of Gaziantep (southeast), according to the US Geological Survey. The quake occurred at 4:17 (01:17 GMT) at a depth of about 17.9 km