Bodybags were brought by trucks and lined up on the ground, awaiting burial.

In Turkey, 67 people had been clawed from the rubble in the previous 24 hours, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay told reporters overnight, in efforts that drew in 31,000 rescuers across the affected region.

About 80,000 people were being treated in hospital, while 1.05 million were left homeless by the quakes were in temporary shelters, he added.

Monday's (February 6) 7.8 magnitude quake, with several powerful aftershocks across Turkey and Syria, ranks as the world's seventh-deadliest natural disaster this century, approaching the 31,000 killed by a quake in neighboring Iran in 2003.

With a death toll so far of 21,848 people inside Turkey, it is the country's deadliest earthquake since 1939.