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The humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers will be dispatching a team to Turkey and Syria on Tuesday to assist in search and rescue efforts following a series of devastating earthquakes on Monday.
AFP reports that the latest figures put the death toll in both countries at well over 4 300, with the most devastating tremors measured at 7.8 magnitude.
Gift of the Givers founder, Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman, says their medical facility in Syria, set up in 2102, has already dealt with fatalities and casualties.
"Our teams rapidly evacuated the children from our Bayt Kareem Child Care Centre in Gaziantep, Turkey, whilst in Darkoush, Syria, our medical teams were on full alert to respond," he said.
"The casualties in both countries are expected to increase exponentially. Freezing cold, rain and snow are hampering search and rescue efforts," Dr Sooliman said.
He said Turkish Airlines will facilitate the transport of their teams following discussions with authorities from both countries.
Meanwhile, AFP reports that Turkish and Syrian disaster response teams report more than 5,600 buildings have been flattened across several cities, including many multi-storey apartment blocks that were filled with sleeping residents when the first quake struck.
Monday's first earthquake struck at 4:17 am (0117 GMT) at a depth of about 18 kilometres (11 miles) near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which is home to around two million people, the US Geological Survey said.
