Footage shows Thai Golden Retriever rescue dogs searching the earthquake rubble in Hatay, Turkey on Saturday, February 12.

The two female pooches - seven-year-old Sierra and six-year-old Sahara - arrived at the disaster zone last Friday from Bangkok with the Urban Search and Rescue Thailand.

Temperatures plunged to 2 degrees Celsius at their base with both canines were in sleeping bags to keep them warm while waiting to start their work.

The catastrophic magnitude 7.8 quake, measured at a depth of 24.1 kilometres, hit 23 kilometres east of Nurdagi in Gaziantep province in neighbouring Turkey at around 4 am on Monday, the United States Geological Survey said.

Several aftershocks, including quakes of magnitudes 6.7 and 7.5, struck the same region hours after.

The tragic earthquake is said to be among the strongest to hit Turkey in the last century with the death toll reaching more than 33,000 across Turkey and Syria.