Lebanese soldiers head to Turkey to assist in the search and rescue efforts following the powerful earthquake that hit southeast Turkey and Syria early Monday.

Members of Lebanon's Engineering Regiment were sent despite Lebanon’s crumbling economy which has collapsed under the weight of widespread corruption and mismanagement. The currency has lost more than 90% of its value, throwing most of the population into poverty.

The powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked wide parts of Turkey and Syria early Monday, and was also felt in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, toppled hundreds of buildings and killing more than 3,700 people, with more residents believed to be trapped under the rubble.

The epicenter of the pre-dawn earthquake was near Gaziantep, close to the Turkey-Syria border, and it was followed by a separate magnitude 7.5 earthquake about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north in the early afternoon.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise." He declared seven days of national mourning.

The earthquake struck a region enveloped on both sides of the border by more than a decade of civil war in Syria. On the Syrian side, the swath affected is divided between government-held territory and the country's last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from the conflict.

Source: VOA