The death toll after last night's strong earthquake in Turkey and Syria has risen hour by hour on Monday. 

At 2 p.m. Swedish time, a total of 1,500 people were confirmed dead in both countries, several media outlets write.

In Turkey, over a thousand people are confirmed dead and over 5,000 injured according to President Erdogan, writes Reuters. He also says that it is not yet possible to say how much the death toll can be expected to rise and that almost 3,000 buildings have been destroyed in the country.

- This is the biggest disaster since 1939, Erdogan says, referring to the great earthquake that then claimed over 30,000 lives.

According to AFP, state-run Syrian media reports at the same time about nearly 800 dead in Syria and over a thousand injured.

According to the New York Times, two cities in the province of Hatay are without power. The mobile network is also said to be down in six provinces.

The Turkish energy company Botas states that no damage was found to oil pipelines, but that gas pipelines have been closed in some areas as a precaution, reports Reuters.

The quakes had a magnitude of 7.8 and 6.7, respectively, and occurred at a depth of 17.9 and 9.9 kilometers, respectively.