The combined death toll rose to more than 2,600 for Turkey and Syria on Monday after the region's strongest earthquake in nearly a century.

Turkish government officials said at least 1,651 people had died in the 7.8-magnitude tremor, with another 968 confirmed fatalities in neighboring Syria, putting the total at 2,619.

Turkey's emergency services announced earlier that the death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rose to at least 1,498 people, with another 810 confirmed deaths in Syria, putting the total from the region's strongest earthquake in nearly a century at 2,308.

In the meantime, the Syrian Health Ministry announced earlier in the day that the death toll from the earthquake in Syria increased to 538.

"In the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus, 538 people died and 1,353 were injured," the Ministry said, stressing that these figures are not yet final.

The earthquake hit near Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey at 04:17 am (0117 GMT) at a depth of about 17.9 kilometers (11 miles), the US Geological Survey said.

BBC English reported that "the earthquake has occurred around a region of instability called the East Anatolian fault, which runs south-west to north-west of the south-eastern border of Turkey."

The news website explained that "seismologists have long recognised that this fault is very dangerous, though there has not been any significant activity for more than 100 years, but it has been responsible for very damaging earthquakes in the past."

According to BBC English, on August 13, 1882, the East Anatolian fault "caused an earthquake registering 7.4 in magnitude, significantly less than the 7.8 magnitude recorded today."

The 19th-century earthquake "resulted in immense damage to towns in the area, with 7,000 deaths recorded on the city of Aleppo. Damaging aftershocks continued for nearly a year," the website highlighted.

On his part, journalist Omar Kayed said state centers in Turkish Hatay were destroyed, and the roads surrounding the province were also destroyed, noting that 78 aftershocks occurred after the earthquake.

Kayed added that cracks were noticed in the walls of the ancient Gaziantep Citadel, highlighting that the situation is catastrophic, in light of the damage that was caused to many hospitals as a result of the earthquake.

He also pointed out that today's earthquake in Turkey is the strongest since 1999, and confirmed that among the earthquake's victims were Turkish officials and deputies, adding that there are expectations that the death toll will rise.

Earthquake was felt in Greenland

In the same context, Seismologist Tine Larsen confirmed that "the large earthquakes in Turkey were clearly registered on the seismographs in Denmark and Greenland."

Larsen indicated that "the waves from the earthquake reached the seismograph on the Danish island of Bornholm approximately five minutes after the shaking started."

"Eight minutes after the earthquake, the shaking reached the east coast of Greenland, propagating further through all of Greenland," she added.

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