TEHRAN- By the time closing the paper late on Monday, media reported that more than 2,300 individuals had passed away and rescuers were racing to pull survivors from below the rubble after a disastrous earthquake ripped through southern Turkey and northern Syria, leaving destruction and particles on each side of the border.One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in a century shook locals from their beds at around 4 a.m.

on Monday, sending tremblings as far away as Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt.In Turkey, a minimum of 1,498 people have died and several thousand are injured, according to the countrys Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD).

In surrounding Syria, at least 820 have passed away.

According to the Syrian state news firm SANA, 430 individuals have passed away throughout government-controlled locations, primarily in the regions of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, and Tartus.

The White Helmets group, officially called the Syria Civil Defense, reported 390 deaths in opposition-controlled locations.

Much of northwestern Syria, which borders Turkey, is controlled by anti-government forces in the middle of a bloody civil war that began in 2011.

The epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude quake was 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkeys Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.A series of aftershocks have reverberated throughout the day.

The largest, a major quake that measured 7.5 in magnitude, struck in Turkey, according to the USGS about nine hours after the initial quake.

That aftershock struck around 95 kilometers (59 miles) north of the initial.