Part I of II: As the Voices of Buried Earthquake Victims Fade, Survivors Grieve in Silence

GOLCUK, Turkey--Golcuk, a city on the Marmara Sea that's characterized by its military base and a large population of working-class factory workers, is located at the earthquake's epicenter. Today it is a wasteland of crumbled buildings, dead bodies, and human suffering. Officials estimate that the earthquake damaged or destroyed as much as 80 percent of the buildings, burying thousands under tombs of wreckage. And as volunteers and relief workers from around the country and the world arrive here, it is becoming increasingly clear that hope of pulling survivors from the rubble has nearly vanished.

It was close to 1 a.m. when one man here watched silently as construction vehicles rumbled past his family's crushed apartment building. Just two days before, he had heard their voices from beneath the rubble. But no amount of human strength or spirit could sift through the colossal pile of concrete and twisted metal. And like so many others here, he waited in vain for a crane to uncover his loved ones.

But authorities simply did not have enough cranes and backhoes to dig through every pile where cries for help could be heard. And just a few crumbled buildings away from where the man gazed, a crane demonstrated just how painfully slow the process of looking for survivors can be. It carefully lifted away slabs of concrete, one by one, sending a choking cloud of dust into the air but barely making a dent in the huge mound of debris after two days of work.

The man wore a lonely, sorrowful expression that is common among the people here. Despite the constant commotion of traffic from construction vehicles and ambulances, their somber faces create an eerie sense of silence--a feeling that nothing can deliver them from their collective misery.

The amount of time that experts say a person can survive without food or water is four days. But in Golcuk the hope of finding survivors grew grim long before then. The meager shovels and picks that rescue teams and volunteers hauled in last week were no match for the massive blocks of cement--rescuers had no choice but to abandon those buried beneath. "Everybody came here to help but the damage is too great and many left to rescue people in places where the buildings weren't so large," an American Red Cross donor told a Red Cross worker surveying the city.

When a group of volunteers from Istanbul arrived here one night in a rush of enthusiasm to search for survivors, they were told that there was nothing but dead bodies to pull from the debris. Although 50 people had been rescued the day before from a massive heap of concrete, overwhelmed authorities seemed already to have given up. But the optimistic outsiders stayed anyway, sleeping in a soccer field alongside soldiers and homeless residents, and joining other volunteers to dig through rubble the next morning.

As hopes of finding more survivors fade, relief workers have begun to concentrate on helping the living. Diseases that could spread from decomposing bodies and unsanitary conditions threaten to add to the already staggering death toll. An American Red Cross assessment team walked through the ravaged city just two days after the earthquake, questioning authorities about their relief requests and surveying the needs of the homeless and injured.

Their findings helped the Red Cross pinpoint the most pressing relief needs. But even as outsiders bring hope to this virtual graveyard, images of grief serve as tortuous reminders of those who died.

As one Red Cross worker spoke with an officer at one of the "crisis centers" set up here to deal with the disaster, she learned about the serious need for body bags, and the inability of officials to wait to identify bodies before burying them.

Meanwhile two local men excitably approached another crisis official to tell him that they had heard their relatives' voices crying out from underneath a crushed apartment building. They wanted a crane to help dig them out. When the official said he could not help them, one man broke into hysterics, while the other lapsed into a stupor, repeating over and over again: "But I can hear their voices."

His words echoed all over this decimated city. And as the muffled voices of trapped victims fade this week, it is clear that their cries for help will haunt survivors here long after the cranes finally clear the wreckage.

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. To help the victims of disaster, you may make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-435-7669) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.

The American Red Cross is dedicated to helping make families and communities safer at home and around the world. The Red Cross is a volunteer-led humanitarian service organization that annually provides almost half the nation's blood supply, certifies more than 8.5 million people in vital life-saving skills, mobilizes relief to victims in more than 68,000 disasters nationwide, provides direct health services to 2.8 million people, assists international disaster and conflict victims in more than 40 countries, and transmits more than 14 million emergency messages to members of the Armed Forces and their families. If you would like information on Red Cross services and programs please contact your local Red Cross.