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The death toll of a devastating earthquake in southern Turkey and Syria has jumped to more than 7800 people as rescuers work against time in harsh winter conditions to dig survivors out of the rubble of collapsed buildings.

As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably.

One United Nations official said thousands of children might have died.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces but residents in several damaged Turkish cities voiced anger and despair at what they said was a slow and inadequate response from the authorities to the deadliest earthquake to hit Turkey since 1999.

Monday's magnitude 7.8 quake, followed hours later by a second one almost as powerful, toppled thousands of buildings including hospitals, schools and apartment blocks, injured tens of thousands and left countless people homeless in Turkey and northern Syria.

Rescue workers struggled to reach some of the worst-hit areas, held back by destroyed roads, poor weather and a lack of resources and heavy equipment.

Some areas were without fuel and electricity.

With little immediate help at hand, residents picked through rubble sometimes without even basic tools in a desperate hunt for survivors.

Aid officials voiced particular concern about the situation in Syria, already afflicted by a humanitarian crisis after almost 12 years of civil war.

Erdogan declared 10 Turkish provinces a disaster zone and imposed a state of emergency for three months that will permit the government to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms.

The government will open up hotels in the tourism hub of Antalya to temporarily house people impacted by the quakes, said Erdogan, who faces a national election in three months' time.

The death toll in Turkey rose to 5894, Vice President Fuat Oktay said, with more than 34,000 were injured.

In Syria, the toll was at least 1932, according to the government and a rescue service in the insurgent-held northwest.

Turkish authorities say some 13.5 million people were affected in an area spanning roughly 450km from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east, and 300km from Malatya in the north to Hatay in the south.

Syrian authorities have reported deaths as far south as Hama, some 250km from the epicentre.

"It's now a race against time," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.

"Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes."

Across the region, rescuers toiled night and day as people waited in anguish by mounds of rubble clinging to the hope that friends, relatives and neighbours might be found alive

In Antakya, capital of Hatay province bordering Syria, rescue teams were thin on the ground and residents picked through debris themselves. People pleaded for helmets, hammers, iron rods and rope.

More than 12,000 Turkish search and rescue personnel are working in the affected areas, along with 9000 troops. More than 70 countries offered rescue teams and other aid.

But the sheer scale of the disaster is daunting.

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said 5775 buildings had been destroyed in the quake and 20,426 people had been injured.

Two United States Agency for International Development teams with 80 people each and 12 dogs are set to arrive Wednesday morning in Turkey and head to the southeastern province of Adiyaman to focus on urban search and rescue.

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva the earthquake "may have killed thousands of children".

Syrian refugees in northwest Syria and in Turkey were among the most vulnerable people affected, Elder said.

In the Syrian city of Hama, mosques opened their doors to families whose homes were damaged.

The Syrian state news agency SANA said at least 812 people were killed in the government-held provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Idlib and Tartous.

At least 1120 people were killed in Syria's opposition-held northwest with the toll expected to "rise dramatically", the White Helmets rescue team said.

© RAW 2023

International investigators examining the perpetrators involved in the shooting down of MH17 are set release their latest findings.

The Malaysian Airlines flight was shot down in 2014 killing all 298 passengers and crew on board, including 38 Australians.

In November, a Dutch court found three men - two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist - found guilty of murder and sentenced them to life in prison for their role in the tragedy.

A fourth man was acquitted.

The perpetrators remain at large in Russia and the Kremlin denies any involvement.

A further joint investigation into the crew of the Buk-TELAR and those responsible for supplying the Russian weapon system that downed the flight was initiated by police from Australia, Malaysia, Ukraine, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Investigators will provide an update on their latest findings first to the families of the victims and will hold a media conference on Wednesday night, Australian time.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously called on Russia to stop protecting the men responsible for the atrocity.

"We've gone through this legal and court process, and we call upon Russia to hand over for justice the people who are involved in this and who have been found to be guilty in absentia," he said after the Dutch court's findings last year.

© AAP 2023

Economists say a recession is still possible as global conditions remain volatile and Australian households and businesses feel the pain of higher interest rates.

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday lifted the cash rate 25 basis points to 3.35 per cent, the highest level since September 2012 and the ninth rise in a row.

It also warned further rate rises would be needed over the months ahead to ensure inflation dropped from its existing 7.8 per cent to the central bank's target band of two to three per cent.

"In assessing how much further interest rates need to increase, the board will be paying close attention to developments in the global economy, trends in household spending and the outlook for inflation and the labour market," the RBA said in a statement.

RateCity says the rise will mean an extra $908 a month in repayments since the RBA's rate hikes began in May for the average borrower with a $500,000 loan.

KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said there was a risk the economy would be pushed into a downturn, especially if wage growth was excessive and flowed through to prices.

He said with Australia's heavy dependence on trade, any global slowdown was likely to cause a compounding negative effect on the local economy.

Dr Rynne noted the RBA was not wholly discounting the risk of a recession as international and domestic demand slowed from tighter monetary conditions around the world.

Macquarie Business School's Geoffrey Harold Kingston, part of Finder's RBA cash rate survey, said two further 25-basis point rises could be expected by mid-year.

"Then it will look like the budget has been too expansionary and wage inflation is too high (and) late in the year there will be recession fears," he said.

Unemployment is expected to increase to 3.75 per cent by the end of the year and 4.5 per cent by mid-2025, the RBA said.

ACTU president Michele O'Neil said the ninth consecutive rate rise would deepen cost-of-living pain for many workers and risked pushing the economy "off a cliff".

While Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the RBA board was making independent decisions to tackle inflation, cabinet colleague Bill Shorten said he hoped the board would be mindful of the effect of rate rises.

"You don't want to cause bigger problems to Australians who are paying mortgages when the inflation problem is beginning to recede anyway," he said.

CPI inflation is expected to fall to 4.75 per cent this year and to about three per cent by mid-2025.

Welfare groups are concerned the higher rates will be passed on to renters already struggling to cover their costs.

© AAP 2023