The earthquake that rocked southeastern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday toppled hundreds of buildings and killed more than 1,300 people. 

Egypt’s National Seismic Network (ENSN) said the quake, which struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep - about 40 kilometres from the Syrian border at 3:17am Cairo time, occurred at a depth of 18.30 kilometres. 

More than seven aftershocks of the quake were reported in Egypt, Gad El-Qadi, chairman of the National Research Institute Of Astronomy & Geophysics, said in statements to the state's news agency MENA.

Residents of Egypt as far as Cairo – 963 kilometres south of Gaziantep – felt the quake, according to the Associated Press.

El-Qadi said that the area where the earthquake occurred in Turkey on Monday is the intersection of a number of active geological faults.

He added that the epicenter of the earthquake is located near the intersection of the East Anatolian fault with the Dead Sea Fault Zone.

The last major earthquake hit Egypt in 1992, measuring 5.8 in magnitude, killing 541 people and injuring over 6,500 in Greater Cairo.