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| A DESPERATE SITUATION | |
 August 20, 1999 
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The death toll from Tuesday's earthquake in Turkey is now more than 10,000. But if estimates are correct, tens of thousands more are still trapped or dead in the rubble. -- Posted 1:00 pm EDT |
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Rescuers say time is running out, because people trapped usually die
of dehydration after approximately 72 hours -- a time limit that was passed
earlier today.
But, the 2000 foreign rescuers say they haven't given up hope, because
voices are still occasionally heard coming from the wreckage. Specialists
with sniffer dogs saved two children today, removing them barely alive
from the rubble as weary Turks cheered. With each passing hour, the stench of death worsens in the hardest hit
areas. In Adapazari where at least 2,800 people died, crushed sewer lines,
garbage-strewn streets and a lack of fresh water is creating a dangerous
health situation. Doctors fear cholera or other infectious diseases could
start spreading, making a desperate situation worse. "We can't cope with this," Oguz Titiz, a doctor, told a Turkish
television station. "Vomiting and diarrhea started showing up last
night, especially among children and the elderly."
"Thousands of buildings are in ruins," said Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. "It is not possible to reach all of them." The question for officials has quickly become not how to rescue survivors,
but how to deal with the thousands of dead. Government workers buried 963 people in a mass grave Thursday in Adapazari.
Many bodies have been left trapped in collapsed buildings or stored in
makeshift morgues, including more than 100 at an ice rink in Izmit. Turkish newspaper accounts have also been filled with stories of parents having to identify their own children among the casualties. As a mother first saw her two children, a 7-year-old and a two-month-old in a morgue, she yelled, "No, I can't say goodbye." |
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The
death toll from Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Turkey has surged
to more than 10,000 following another day of searching, as government
officials admit that lack of water and sweltering heat make survival chances
slim for the estimated 35,000 people still trapped in the rubble. 
Meanwhile,
the Turkish government is acknowledging that it is over-stretched by the
widespread disaster.