The quake occurred at a depth of about 5 kilometers with magnitude 5.7 on Sunday morning, local time, according to the European Seismological Center EMSC. Eight people, including three children, have died and at least 21 people have been injured.
According to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, over a thousand buildings have collapsed and images from Turkish TV shows show how the residents are trying to dig into the masses of their homes, inverted in blankets to keep warm in the winter cold.
The TV channel TRT reports that some 40 villages are affected by the quake and several rural schools have been damaged. It is also reported that buildings have collapsed in the Turkish city of Van.
As many villages and cities may have been hit in western Iran, according to a local government source, but no deaths have been reported.