Turkey Ends Search For Quake Victims

A woman cries in front a collapsed house after the October 23 earthquake in the Ercis province of Van, in Turkey.

The death toll from last week's earthquake in southeast Turkey has risen to 596 as authorities announced the end of their search for survivors.

Officials said the focus would turn to helping thousands of homeless families.

Some shops repoened and electricity was restored in some parts of parts in Ercis, the town hit hardest by the 7.2-magnitude quake that devastated Van province on October 23.

But one aftershock on October 30 registered a magnitude of 5.3, and most of the town's nearly 100,000 residents are not ready to return to their damaged homes.

compiled from Reuters reports