The death toll in an earthquake that hit southeast Turkey on Sunday has risen to 534, with 2,300 people injured, the Disaster and Emergency Administration said today.
In a statement, it also said 185 people had been rescued alive from collapsed buildings since the quake, which struck Van province on Sunday afternoon with a magnitude of 7.2. The crisis centre had said on Wednesday night the death toll was at 481.
In Ercis, a town of 100,000 that was hardest hit, people voiced frustration as they stood in a queue for tents snaking down the main street after a night of heavy rain which turned to snow this morning.
"Everyone is getting sick and wet. We have been waiting in line for four days like this and still nothing. It gets to our turn and they say they have run out," said Fetih Zengin (38) an estate agent whose house was badly damaged in the quake .
"We slept under a piece of plastic erected on some wood boards we found. We have 10 children in our family, they are getting sick. Everyone needs a tent, snow is coming. It's a disaster," he said.
Searches for survivors went on at some sites but at others rescuers had given up hope and stopped work. A mother and her baby were pulled out dead from one building during the night, witnesses said.
The Turkish Red Crescent, which had acted swiftly to provide refuge for Syrians fleeing the violence in their homeland this year, has received some of the blame for a lack of organisation.
Several countries have answered Turkey's call for help to supply tents, prefabricated housing and containers, including Israel despite bad terms between the two governments since Israeli commandos killed nine Turks aboard a flotilla taking aid to Palestinians in Gaza last year.
Exhausted relatives clung to hopes that loved ones would still be found, keeping vigil at the site of their destroyed homes as searches went on for any sign of life.