Turkey's interior minister said on Monday that the death toll in a 7.2-magnitude earthquake has reached 270. Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin told the Associated Press television that more 1,000 others were injured in the temblor that struck eastern Turkey a day earlier. On Monday, rescuers pulled out several people alive from collapsed buildings in Ercis, including a man who managed to call for help on his cell phone. Dozens of people were trapped in hills of debris, but authorities offered hope that the death toll may not rise as high as initially feared. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who inspected the area late Sunday, said 'close to all' mud-brick homes in surrounding villages had collapsed in the temblor that also rattle parts of Iran and Armenia. Rescuers searched throughout the night among pancaked buildings as families members waited outside, some in tears. Cranes and other heavy equipment lifted slabs of concrete and residents searched for the missing with shovels. Aid groups scrambled to set up tents, field hospitals and kitchens to assist thousands left homeless or who were afraid to re-enter their homes.
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