Two powerful earthquakes have left a wave of destruction across central and southern Türkiye, sprawling into nearby Syria, with a death toll passing 5,000 and rapidly climbing.
But surrounding countries weren't spared from the shocks, with the impact felt as far east as Iraq, and as far south as Egypt.
Here's what we know about how events unfolded.
The first earthquake struck at 4:17am
The magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit before sunrise on Monday at 4:17am (12:17pm AEDT), 26 kilometres east of Nurdağı in southern Türkiye.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates the quake rumbled at a depth of 18km, resulting from a strike-flip fault in the seismically-active region.
The USGS says the earthquake was followed 11 minutes later by a magnitude-6.7 aftershock.
A nine-hour reprieve followed
After the tremors from the first quake settled, rescue efforts began in freezing temperatures, and reports of damage started to filter through.
Dozens were reported dead and hundreds more were missing as aftershocks rippled through the region.
Buildings were severely damaged or flattened entirely, extending from the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama, to Diyarbakir in Türkiye, some 330km to the north-east.
Then came the second quake at 1:24pm
A magnitude-7.5 earthquake rocked the region just hours later at 1:24pm local time (9:24pm AEDT), with the epicentre just 4km south-east of Ekinözü — about 150km north of where the first quake hit.
The magnitude of this quake was smaller than the first, but was much shallower at a depth of 10km.
The second quake's tremors also had a smaller spread, but its impact was concentrated to the north of Gaziantep.
The impact of the two earthquakes make the event one of the worst Türkiye has recorded in decades.
The impact of devastation
Although the quakes happened early in the day in Türkiye and Syria, rescue efforts continued throughout the night across the regions, despite being blanketed with freezing temperatures from a cold snap.
On the ground, the impacts are starting to be documented.
Near the first epicentre, Gaziantep's historic castle, its most famed landmark, was heavy damaged, with its walls and watch towers reduced to rubble.
Nearby in Malatya, the Yeni Camii mosque is almost unrecognisable.
In Hatay, a town on Türkiye's border near Syria, skyscrapers and apartment buildings have been brought down to Earth.
Currently, satellite images showing how far the damage has spread is sparse, due to poor weather and cloud cover in the area.
But with rescue efforts still ongoing, the full impact of the devastating earthquakes likely won't be known for days.
Türkiye is in a vulnerable tectonic position
Türkiye is positioned almost perfectly between the Anatolian and Arabian plates, making it vulnerable to movements between the two.
To further increase the country's risk, there are a concentrated number of fault lines lying beneath, with the East Anatolian Fault making this particular event so severe.
But it isn't just Türkiye that is vulnerable because of this fault — Syria, Lebanon, and other surrounding countries have fault lines running through them too, meaning when earthquakes strike, they ricochet throughout the region.
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