Update: More Than 4,000 Dead After Powerful 7.8 Magnitude Earthquake and Aftershocks ‘Like Armageddon’ Strike Turkey

More than 4,000 people are dead after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and severe aftershocks ‘like Armageddon’ hit southern Turkey.

The death toll is expected to rise.

The quake struck 20 miles from Gaziantep.

Numerous residential buildings collapsed in Turkey and northern Syria.

Tens of thousands of people in Turkey and Syria are now homeless in bitter cold winter conditions.

AP reported:

Rescuers in Turkey and war-ravaged Syria searched through the frigid night into Tuesday, hoping to pull more survivors from the rubble after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 4,000 people and toppled thousands of buildings across a wide region.

Authorities feared the death toll from Monday’s pre-dawn earthquake and aftershocks would keep climbing as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across the region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.

Survivors cried out for help from within mountains of debris as first responders contended with rain and snow. Seismic activity continued to rattle the region, including another jolt nearly as powerful as the initial quake. Workers carefully pulled away slabs of concrete and reached for bodies as desperate families waited for news of loved ones.

Video of the aftermath of the earthquake from earlier today: