Rain raises risks as search teams sift through debris

The Associated Press

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Bulldozers and jackhammers tore into flattened buildings still entombing thousands of earthquake victims in Turkey on Sunday, rushing to clear decomposing corpses before expected rains increase the risk of epidemics.

Just how many people remained buried across populous northwestern Turkey was still unknown nearly a week after Tuesday's enormous quake. The official death toll has surpassed 12,000 and some officials predicted as many as 40,000 may have died.

Amid the tears, an astonishing ray of hope: A 57-year-old stroke- crippled woman unable to cry for help was found alive after nearly 512 days trapped in rubble in the town of Golcuk, about 110 miles southeast of Istanbul.

Another woman, 52, was pulled out by Israeli, Turkish and Bulgarian rescue teams from the rubble of her home in Cinarcik, southwest of Golcuk, according to an Israeli army statement.

In many places, however, the search for the living was scaled back and there was only the roar of machinery ripping into the wreckage where rescuers once carefully listened for any signs of life.

Survivors, some with family members still buried, watched helplessly.

"We can't even get our dead," said Osman Bakay, who has two relatives still caught in a collapsed five-story building in Yalova, about 30 miles south of Istanbul.

The stench of decomposing bodies across the quake zone was an obvious reminder that serious diseases could flare any moment. Typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery topped the list of concerns. Officials have sprayed disinfectants, distributed water purification tablets and started spreading antiseptic lime in the region.

Rains forecast to begin today could bring contaminated runoff into streets. They also could contribute to other health risks -- for example, carrying down toxic particles pumped into the sky from a huge fire that burned several days at Turkey's biggest oil refinery after Tuesday's quake.

Health Minister Osman Durmus urged people to leave the area near the refinery in Izmit, about 90 miles southeast of Istanbul.

Energy officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said an oil spill from the refinery had spread up to 112 miles offshore into the Marmara Sea.

The government put the damage caused by the refinery fire at $200 million.

Up to 25,000 beds were available at hotels and resorts around the region, government officials said. Food, plastic sheeting and buses also were sent in. Tent cities have been erected in some areas.

The government is desperate to reverse the widespread impression that it was unable to cope with the disaster.

Much criticism was focused on why Turkey's military -- one of the region's largest with nearly 800,000 servicemen -- appeared to hold off on a mass mobilization to dig for survivors and lead relief operations. More soldiers have been dispatched to the quake zone, but, it seemed, more to protect against looting than to provide help.

"The organization is no good at all. Some people are getting too much and other people are getting nothing," complained Emrullah Azturk in Yalova.

There was speculation in the Turkish media that the military response was complicated by the possibility of Turkey declaring martial law. That is a particularly sensitive issue in a nation that has experienced three military coups in the past 20 years. The government decided such a decree was unnecessary, said the military chief of staff, Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu.

Kivrikoglu insisted more than 53,000 soldiers have been involved in efforts since hours after the quake struck and have pulled nearly 20,000 survivors from the rubble. Independent confirmation wasn't immediately available.

"We have the strength to overcome the damage of this earthquake very soon," Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said in a nationwide address.

The patriotic message was carried even further by Durmus, the health minister. He said Turkish hospitals can handle all the injured and foreign help -- including a U.S. military ship with a surgical team able to accommodate 500 patients -- wasn't needed.

But there were no plans to call off today's expected arrival of the American assault ship USS Kearsarge, said military spokesman Lt. Cappy Surette. The ship was expected in the Golcuk area.

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