Johan von Schreeb, surgeon and professor of global disaster medicine, goes to the disaster area on Tuesday morning to help.
He believes that rescue work around earthquakes is particularly difficult.
- Earthquakes are special because you cannot predict when they will come, but with other natural disasters we can.
Earthquakes also cause the most deaths and injuries.
The weather is a factor that makes the conditions even more difficult, he believes.
In Gaziantep, Turkey, it is expected to be below zero on Tuesday.
- After a day, the chances of finding survivors in the race masses are very small.
Rising death toll
Johan von Schreeb has extensive experience of working in war zones and previous earthquakes.
He estimates that the death toll may rise to around 10,000-15,000 dead.
- It takes time before we find out anything.
Mobile phone masts collapse and you don't get any information.
In northern Syria, we don't really know what it looks like yet, there is very little information from there, he says.
Hear more about the difficult rescue work in the video above.