U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the Turkish capital on Saturday for a visit overshadowed by a powerful earthquake in the northwest of the country that has killed at least 360 people.

She was the first of a cavalcade of high-profile politicians and world leaders expected to descend on the country for a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul on November 18-19.

President Clinton is due to join his wife and daughter Chelsea in Turkey on Sunday, ahead of the summit that organizers say will go ahead despite the devastation wrought by the earthquake.

Rodham Clinton, considering whether to run for a U.S. Senate seat in the state of New York next year, is expected to visit Turkey's Mediterranean coast and a women's education center in Ankara. So far, her program does not contain any visit to the quake-stricken province of Bolu.

But the first lady sent her condolences to the victims.

"Our hearts go out to the families of the victims. As President Clinton has said, America stands ready to help in any way we can," she said in a statement issued by the U.S. embassy in Ankara. 7.2

A tremor measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale ripped through the Bolu region on Friday. Turkish officials say the latest death toll is 362 with more than 1,300 injured.

It was the second major quake to hit Turkey after a tremor on August 17 that killed at least 17,000 people.

Friday's quake was felt in Istanbul but no damage has been reported in the city. Its hotels and conference centers emerged unscathed from the August quake, which measured 7.4.

Rodham Clinton's visit to Turkey is the final stage of a trip to the Middle East that has taken in U.S. allies Israel and Jordan.

Reuters