Turkish rescuers pulled a woman alive from the rubble yesterday more than 100 hours after she was buried by last Friday's earthquake.
Ms Safa Cebeci (42) was rushed to hospital in Istanbul and reported to be in intensive care suffering from exhaustion, a broken arm and kidney malfunction due to dehydration.
Rescue workers pulled Ms Cebeci from under the concrete of a ruined building in the town of Duzce, where the earth tremor of 7.2 on the Richter scale buried her.
She was plucked to safety a day after many foreign rescue teams pulled out of the quake zone in north-west Turkey, saying cold weather made further survival all but impossible for anyone under the rubble.
The death toll stood yesterday at 550, according to figures released by the official crisis management centre. More than 3,200 people were injured.
The quake was the second major tremor to hit Turkey in three months. A shock measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale killed more than 17,000 people in August.
The two quakes have made more than half a million people homeless and strained Turkey's ability to provide food and shelter as the harsh Anatolian winter sets in.
A strong aftershock measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale hit Duzce at 10.15 a.m. (8.15 Irish time), triggering panic among local people. The governor of Bolu, Mr Nusret Miroglu, and other officials rushed out into the street fearing further damage.
Homeless victims in Duzce and Bolu, the quake region's capital city, have complained about inadequate provision for survivors. Many are spending freezing nights in makeshift huts of wood and plastic sheeting.
Israeli officials said Israeli doctors in Duzce had helped deliver a baby boy at a field hospital sent to the town.
Even if their homes are still standing, the aftershocks are discouraging nearly everyone from going back indoors.
The average winter temperature in the hilly quake region falls well below freezing and rainfall is high.
President Clinton, his wife Hillary and their daughter Chelsea visited tents housing some 9,000 survivors of the August quake on Tuesday. Mr Clinton is on a five-day visit to Turkey for a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which starts in Istanbul today.
Officials say the summit will go ahead despite warnings from seismologists that Istanbul could be due for an earthquake. The quake experts cannot say when such a tremor might take place.
A strong offshore earth tremor measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale was recorded yesterday off the coast of Papua New Guinea, the Australian Geological Survey Organisation said. An Australian seismologist, Dr Ken Muirhead, said the epicentre was just off the north coast of the island of New Britain.
There was a series of strong undersea quakes off New Britain in June and July, and scientists have predicted a major earthquake could be in the offing.
A moderate earthquake, registering 5.2 on the Richter scale, shook Taiwan yesterday, once again rattling nerves across the island as people were reminded of a powerful September quake which killed 2,400 people. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.
Ms Safa Cebeci recovering in the Cerrahpasa Hospital in Istanbul yesterday after being buried for four days under the rubble of a seven-storey building in Duzce in northern Turkey. She suffered a broken right arm and kidney failure, due to dehydration. Photograph: Omer Erim Bastimar/AP, Anatolia