The Netherlands is sending its specialist search and rescue team to Turkey to help emergency services dealing with the aftermath of the severe earthquake at the weekend.

By Monday afternoon 1900 people were confirmed to have died after the quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, struck southern Turkey and northern Syria at 4.17am local time, in what Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan described as his country’s worst natural disaster since 1939.

Thousands more are injured and trapped under rubble in an area spanning more than 300km across the Turkish provinces of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras and the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima expressed their condolences for the victims of the diaster and support for rescue workers in a statement published by the royal household.

‘The victims and their families are in our thoughts, as are the rescue workers who are doing their utmost to bring people to safety. They deserve our total support,’ the statement said.

Reactie van Koning Willem-Alexander en Koningin Máxima op de aardbevingen in Turkije en Syrië: https://t.co/MI6gCiIyiD pic.twitter.com/sBtfhsjSmr

— Koninklijk Huis (@koninklijkhuis) February 6, 2023

Foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra said the urban search and rescue team UNAR.NL, comprising police, military personnel, firefighters and first aid responders, was heading to the region.

The team of 65 personnel and eight rescue dogs is due to depart from Eindhoven’s military airbase in a cargo plane at 6.30pm on Monday.

‘Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the many injured Turks and Syrians,’ Hoekstra said in a message on Twitter.

Nearly 900 buildings have been destroyed by the earthquake, Turkish officials said, including a hospital in the coastal city of Iskanderoun. Vice-president Fuat Okray said rescue efforts were being hampered by bad weather.

Shocked by the news of the devastating earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the many injured Turks and Syrians. The Netherlands will send an Urban Search and Rescue team to Türkiye. @MevlutCavusoglu 1/2

— Wopke Hoekstra (@WBHoekstra) February 6, 2023