Quake death toll increases to 570 in Turkey
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Xinhua, October 28, 2011
The death toll following Sunday's powerful earthquake that struck the province of Van in eastern Turkey stands at 570 as of Friday morning, the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) said.
AFAD also said 2,250 people were injured in the 7.2-magnitude quake, adding that 187 people had been rescued from collapsed buildings since the quake.
Search and rescue teams pulled a teenager alive from the debris 108 hours after Sunday's massive earthquake, semi-official Anatolia news agency reported Friday.
Relief teams pulled the 13-year-old Serhat Tokay alive from the rubble of an apartment building in Van's Ercis town early Friday, according to the report. Tokay was then taken under treatment in a field hospital.
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 buildings in Ercis, a town of 75,000 people close to the Iranian border. The region is among Turkey's most earthquake-prone zones.
