good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at 0ne. more than 1,700 people have been killed in a powerful earthquake that s hit southern turkey and syria. it happened in the early hours of this morning, and had a magnitude of 7.8, destructive enough to have been felt as far away as cyprus and egypt. the epicentre is near the turkish city of gaziantep. it was followed by a second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5. the number of dead is expected to rise sharply as rescue teams reach people trapped underneath the rubble. turkey has declared a state of emergency, and appealed for international help. 0ur correspondent richard galpin has the very latest. the huge earthquake of 7.8 magnitude
went, there were heavy equipment. i don t know about the other cities, actually. thank you so much for talking, with us. and we will of course, join you again in just, probably next hour, thank you again. we re joined now by cnn international producer in istanbul. next few hourses are critical for search and rescue operations as they try to find survivors under the rubble there. what can you tell us about earthquakes that have hit turkey in the past? how quickly were they able to get to people and get them out? well, rosemary, turkey psyche was impacted by the huge earthquake that took place in 1999, and ever since that, it is something that the turkish public, government. has been gearing up for, the question has always biden when is the next big earthquake going to hit and will we be more prepared? i think we re seeing in response
balancing act between being as careful and painstaking as possible, and, as you can see, using the biggest pieces of earth moving material to try and see if anybody is still alive, notjust under this building, but under hundreds of buildings like it across southern turkey and north west syria. maw; turkey and north-west syria. many thanks for that. turkey and north-west syria. many thanks for that. anna turkey and north-west syria. many thanks for that. anna foster - turkey and north west syria. many thanks for that. anna foster there, live from southern turkey. apologies for the break up on the line a couple of times at the beginning. situated on or near several fault lines, turkey is one of the world s most active earthquake zones. the country recorded over 22,000 last year alone. many are deadly the worst on record, a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999, killing more than 17,000 people. here s our science editor, rebecca morelle.
the earthquake, since daybreak, and now you can see the rescue efforts have not ended and there is more help on the way to help them. the turkish garment has said clear the roads and stop using mobile phones. more in a moment. we will have more under that developing story in response to the ethic that has hit turkey and syria, as well as all of the main news in the uk. now the weather forecast with carol. it has been a cold and frosty start for most of us this morning. where we have had the frost is also where we have had the frost is also where we had the clear skies and we are looking at some sunshine. also some mist and fog, that is now lifting. for most of us it is going to be a dry day with a lot of pleasant weather. high pressure still firmly in charge. we have a with weather front coming across the north west, producing patchy light rain and drizzle, and then a more active one