Mahmut Ozer, Turkey's Minister of National Education, visited Turkey's eastern city of Malatya, which is one of the cities heavily hit by the earthquake that killed over 1,400 people nationwide.

Ozer announced all schools in the country will be closed until February 13.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that today's earthquake was the "biggest disaster in the last century after the 1939 Erzincan earthquake."

"Tonight at 04.17, we were shaken by the biggest disaster in the last century after the 1939 Erzincan earthquake," Erdogan said,

During a press conference in Ankara, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces that search and rescue operations are being prioritized and that the country has received "offers of assistance from 45 countries," after a 7.8- magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of the morning.