More Than 1,800 Dead as Two Massive Earthquakes Hit Turkey and Syria

All right, let’s turn now to the latest from the pair of massive earthquakes that devastated areas in both Turkey and Syria. The first, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake toppled nearly 3,000 buildings and killed nearly 2,000 people. As of early this morning. The second 7.5 magnitude quakes struck less than 12 hours later, and rescue efforts are underway right now as hundreds are still to believed, to be trapped under the rubble. Let’s bring in NBC News, foreign correspondent Meagan Fitzgerald with the latest reporting out of our London Bureau. Meagan, what more do we know about those rescue efforts?

Mika, I can tell you that it is an all hands on deck effort. We are talking about complete and utter destruction and devastation in both Syria and Turkey. Where collectively, leaders of both country are now saying that that death toll has soared, pasted 1,700 nearing closing in on 2,000 people, dead with thousands of others injured. And of course, we know unfortunately that that death toll will just continue to rise. You talk about a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. That was the first one, of course, and then there was the second one, but 7.8 magnitude that is the largest quake, the biggest and worst quake that this region has seen in more than a hundred years. And so when you look at what we see in Turkey where buildings just collapse, deduced to rubble, people trapped underneath, the chaos that has ensued. People running for their lives, people crying and screaming for loved ones that are trapped underneath. First responders, rushing to the scene, trying to pull people out.

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Also telling these frantic people to remain quiet so that they can listen to the cries underneath the rubble as they continue this search and rescue effort. A similar scene that we’re seeing in Syria, we heard from the spokesperson for the civil defense, who is practically in tears as he talked about the efforts being done to try and save his people. We know that the military has been activated all units across Syria, rushing to the northern part of the country to try and rescue people. The defense spokesperson there, talking about how the world needs to help, crying for the world to come in. Now we know that President Erdogan has said that some 45 countries around the world has reached out, offering assistance to bring in search and rescue crews, of course, including the United States. They’ve heard from Germany and Poland, even war torn Ukraine offering assistance as the entire world really watches as this humanitarian crisis unfolds. Mika-

NBC’s Megan Fitzgerald. Thank you very much. We’ll be watching that very closely.