A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria early Monday morning destroying countless buildings in both countries and killing at least 1,900 people, with that number expected to rise dramatically. It is estimated that there were over 5,000 people injured most of who were asleep in their homes when the quake hit.

Rescue teams are searching for the hundreds of people still trapped beneath the rubble.

It was followed a few hours later, by a slightly less powerful, 7.5 magnitude earthquake that demolished buildings damaged by the first. The second earthquake’s epicenter was 60 miles (ca. 97 km) north of the first, which was located north of the Turkish city of Gaziantep (population 2 million), near the Syrian border.

According to reports the two earthquakes were unrelated, but the first quake may have triggered the second. There have been reports of smaller quakes in other areas of the world including a 3.8 magnitude earthquake in Buffalo, New York, leading some to suggest the Turkey earthquakes may have destabilized other faults.

The Danish Geological survey stated that the shock waves from the two quakes could be felt as far away as Greenland.

The Daily Mail adds that whole sections of cities were obliterated by the two quakes.

There have been over three dozen aftershocks since including one that hit 6.7.

According to the Richter scale, earthquakes nearing 8.0 will destroy buildings and even heavily damage those that are earthquake resistance.

It may be another indicator that we have entered what Jesus described as the birth pang phase leading up to His second return. This will include ‘massive earthquakes’ hitting various parts of the world.

¹¹ and there will be massive earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrible sights and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:11 NASV)

It will culminate with what the Apostle John describes as the greatest earthquake to ever rock the earth, seen in his Apocalyptic vision of the end times, recorded in the book of Revelation.

This earthquake, which was caused by an angel pouring out of the seventh bowl, will be so powerful it will split a city into three parts.

¹⁸ And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since mankind came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. ¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. (Revelation 16:18-19 NASV)

We are uncertain what city John was describing as he only refers to it as Babylon. But he adds that the earthquake will be so massive, it will destroy cities in the surrounding nations.

This means that it will exceed the Valdivia Earthquake, 9.5 magnitude, which is the largest earthquake ever recorded that hit Bio-Bio, Chile in 1960, killing 1,655 people.

The tsunami created by this earthquake killed 61 people in Hawaii and reached the shores of New Zealand and Japan.

The earthquake also resulted in villagers sacrificing a five-year-old boy to calm the land and ocean. The two men responsible were sentenced to only two years in prison as the judge ruled they were not responsible for their actions as they were driven by ancient ancestral traditions.

READ: SECOND mega earthquake hits Turkey, hours after record 7.8-magnitude tremor: Thousands feared dead as Turkey and Syria reel from overnight destruction that saw families crushed in their sleep AND El cristo mapuche se perdió en el mar Archived 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, El Diario Austral de Valdivia. 23 May 2010. AND 20 Largest Earthquakes in the World