The death toll from Sunday's powerful earthquake in southeastern Turkey has risen to 523 and the number of the injured to 1,650, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Administration (AFAD) said Thursday.

Rescuers pulled out a 19-year-old alive from the rubble of a collapsed building four days after the earthquake, local NTV news channel reported Thursday.

NTV footage showed rescue workers freeing the teenager who looked exhausted. He is the first to be pulled out alive since rescuers evacuated a university student and two teachers on Wednesday.

So far, 816 search and rescue members, 886 health personnel, 18 sniffer dogs, 145 ambulances including seven ambulance planes, 11 mobile hospitals, more than 18,000 tents, 95 mobile toilets, 60 prefabricated huts, over 84,000 blankets, 1,130 quilts and 36 mobile kitchens have been dispatched to the quake-hit zone, according to a statement released by the AFAD on Wednesday evening.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged Wednesday at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that his government had exhibited some failures in response to the earthquake on the first day, but he also criticized the media for accusing the government of being late in reaching out to quake victims.

"I admit that we failed in the beginning within the first 24 hours. But this is normal. This happens all around the world," Erdogan said, adding that the situation now is almost completely under control.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake on Sunday afternoon led to the collapse of about 80 multi-storey buildings in Ercis, a town of 75, 000 people close to the Iranian border. The region is among Turkey's most earthquake-prone zones.

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