Man pulled from rubble 100 hours after quake

RESCUE workers last night pulled out a man alive from the rubble more than 100 hours after an earthquake that killed more than 500 people in eastern Turkey.

The man, who was rescued in the town of Ercis, the hardest hit by Sunday’s 7.2 magnitude tremor, was whisked away in an ambulance to the cheers of onlookers.

Rain gave way to snow yesterday in eastern Turkey, making life miserable for thousands of earthquake survivors as the death toll rose to 534.

Emergency officials said 2,300 people were injured and 185 have been rescued from the rubble since Sunday. Some 2,000 buildings have been destroyed and authorities declared another 3,700 buildings unfit for habitation.

More aid began to reach survivors, with Turkish authorities delivering more tents after acknowledging distribution problems that included saw aid trucks being looted even before they reached Ercis.

Families who did snag a precious aid tent shared them with others. But some people spent a fourth night outdoors huddled under blankets in front of campfires, either waiting for news of the missing or keeping watch over damaged homes.

As survivors gathered pieces of wood to light campfires or stove-heaters, the Red Crescent and several pro-Islamic groups set up kitchens and dished out soup or rice and beans.

Turkey’s weather agency predicted intermittent snowfall for the next three days.

Search and rescue operations have ended in the provincial capital of Van, but searchers continued digging through debris in Ercis, 90km to the north.