A major earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck central Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, killing scores of people and injuring hundreds as buildings collapsed, and triggering searches across the snowy region for survivors trapped in rubble.

The quake, which struck in the early darkness of a winter morning, was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon.

“I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I’ve lived,” said Erdem, a resident of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the quake’s epicentre, who declined to give his surname.

“We were shaken at least three times very strongly, like a baby in a crib.”

Turkey’s disaster agency said 76 people had been killed, and 440 hurt, as authorities scrambled rescue teams and supply aircraft to the area around the city of Kahramanmaras, while declaring a “level 4 alarm” that calls for international assistance.

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Syrian state media said a large number of buildings collapsed in the province of Aleppo, while a source in the Hama civil service said buildings had also collapsed there.