A magnitude 7.9 earthquake has struck central Turkey and north-west Syria, killing scores of people and injuring hundreds as buildings collapsed, and triggering searches across the snowy region for survivors trapped in rubble.

The quake, which struck early on Monday morning (local time), was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon.

Turkey’s disaster agency said 76 people had been killed, and 440 hurt, as authorities scrambled rescue teams and supply aircraft to the area around the city of Kahramanmaras, while declaring a “level 4 alarm” that calls for international assistance.

Syrian state media said a large number of buildings collapsed in the province of Aleppo, while a source in the Hama civil service said buildings had also collapsed there.

“Paintings fell off the walls in the house,” said Samer, a resident of the capital, Damascus.

“I woke up terrified. Now we’re all dressed and standing at the door.”

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People in Damascus, and in the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli, ran into the street and took to their cars to get away from their buildings in case they collapsed, witnesses said.

In Turkey’s Gaziantep, one resident whose name was given only as Mr Erdem also said people had fled their shaking homes and were too scared to return.

The US was “profoundly concerned” about the quake in Turkey and Syria and was monitoring events closely, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter.

“I have been in touch with Turkish officials to relay that we stand ready to provide any and all needed assistance,” he said.

The tremor lasted about a minute and shattered windows, according to a Reuters witness in Diyarbakir, 350 kilometres to the east, where a security official said at least 17 buildings had collapsed.

Authorities said 16 structures collapsed in Sanliurfa and 34 in Osmaniye.

Broadcasters TRT and Haberturk showed footage of people picking through building wreckage, moving stretchers and seeking survivors in Kahramanmaras, where it was still dark.

“Our primary job is to carry out the search and rescue work and to do that all our teams are on alert,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, while the EMSC monitoring service said it was assessing the risk of a tsunami.

The US Geological Survey reported a series of further earthquakes following the initial tremor, which it put at a magnitude of 7.8. There was a quake measuring 6.7 in Gaziantep and another of 5.6 in the city’s Nurdag area.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) put the magnitude of the quake at 7.4 near Kahramanmaras and the larger city of Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border.

Tremors were also felt in the Turkish capital of Ankara, 460 kilometres north-west of the epicentre, and in Cyprus, where police reported no damage.

The area is regularly hit by strong earthquakes.

“The earthquake struck in a region that we feared. There is serious widespread damage,” Kerem Kinik, the chief of the Turkish Red Crescent relief agency, told Haberturk, issuing an appeal for blood donations.

-AAP