The strong earthquake that hit Eastern Turkey Sunday has already claimed at least 264 lives, and has left more than 1 300 injured.

Rescue workers scrambled through piles of rubble to find survivors Monday after the deadly 7.2-magnitude earthquake devastated the Van Province near the border with Iran, with the towns of Ercis and Van being most heavily affected.

There were conflicting reports about the number dead. As many as 264 people are dead and 1,300 are injured after Sunday's quake, Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin told reporters Monday. As cited by CNN Turk.

It was difficult to tally the number of injured, Health Minister Recep Akdag said, because many were being treated and released.

Turkey's Anatolian news agency quoted Sahin as saying a total of 970 buildings had collapsed. The military was assisting with search and rescue efforts, Atalay said.

Numerous aftershocks - the largest a magnitude 6.0 - rattled eastern Turkey, one of the nation's poorest areas.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 55 buildings collapsed in Ercis on the north shore of Lake Van. The Turkish Red Crescent said about 25 apartment buildings and a student dormitory collapsed in the town.

In spite of the extensive damage, Turkey refused to accept any international rescue units or aid, with Erdogan declaring that the country can cope with the disaster on its own.

Bulgaria was among those who offered to help, as were Turkey's former strategic ally Israel and neighboring Armenia, which traditionally has tense relations with Turkey.

"On behalf of the people and Government of Bulgaria I extend our condolences to our neighbors in Turkey for the terrible tragedy that has struck South East Turkey," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov declared in a statement shortly after the disaster hit.

"Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the injured. I have sent a message to the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs that the Bulgarian Civil Protection Authority, if asked, stands ready and prepared to immediately send trained teams to assist in the search and rescue efforts. We have also informed the European Commission that we are ready to participate in an EU wide effort, if such an effort is undertaken," he added.

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Izmit, Turkey, killed more than 17,000 people in 1999, according to the United States Geological Survey.

A magnitude 7.2 tremor in Duzce the same year killed 894 people, the USGS reminds further.

In 1941, the Van-Ercis earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 claimed 192 lives.

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