Rescue work halts in eastern Turkey seven days after deadly quake

The death toll from Turkey's deadly earthquake last Sunday rose to 601 on Sunday, while officials said the search for survivors stopped in the disaster-struck eastern province of Van province and they would then focus on removing the wreckage and helping disaster victims left homeless. Turkey's Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) said Sunday that the death toll reached 601 and the number of injured people was 4,152 in the 7.2-magnitude earthquake while 188 people have been pulled out alive from the rubble. The AFAD said search and rescue efforts had been completed in Van, but relief efforts were underway at two spots in the worst- hit town of Ercis. The rescue work would be halted overnight, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said Saturday. The last person rescued alive was 13-year-old Ferhat Tokay, who was pulled out from rubble six days after the disaster. Local residents camped out in tents or shelters despite bad weather, fearing that more building would collapse in aftershocks, as one aftershock on Sunday morning registered at 5.3-magnitude. More than 43,000 tents had been delivered in Van, according to the government's disaster management website. Efforts were underway to provide winter tents, containers and prefabricated houses for quake survivors as the winter was approaching, Turkey's City Planning Minister Erdogan Bayraktar said Saturday, promising that new dwellings would be ready in two separate regions in Ercis town and one in Van city by the end of September 2012 for people left homeless by the quake. Hamit Karata, a health officer in Ercis, warned survivors against drinking tap water, since the water network was damaged during the quake and might be contaminated with sewage, semi- official Anatolia news agency reported Sunday. Teams of psychologists have started to work for treating almost 1,000 children affected by the quake. The survivors are in need of toilet, clothing for children and underwear for women, a female resident of Ercis sheltered in tents told CNN Turk news channel on Sunday. Some 200 new babies were born in state hospital of Van. Some women gave premature birth due to quake shock, while five pregnant women had miscarriage, Anatolia reported. Turkey has accepted assistance from many countries, including Israel and Armenia, both states with which it has strained bilateral relations. "We would like to thank the international community. Countries like Iran and Azerbaijan have shown extreme sensitivity," Atalay said. Some 3,548 tents from abroad had been sent to the quake-hit zone, he said. Turkey first rejected foreign help "to see its own potential," Atalay added. In his speech to the nation on Sunday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his government was not entirely successful in reaching the quake victims on the first day; however such faults are natural in a time of major disasters.