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

GOLCUK, Turkey--Judging from her tidy appearance, you would never guess what the Turkish woman had been through in the last few days. Her headdress, a floral scarf, hung snugly around her face and her long, full skirt was creaseless. For the past three days she had lived and slept in a field on this coastal city's naval base, eating nothing but bread at every meal and squatting outside when she had to use the bathroom. The night before, one of the strongest aftershocks of the August 17, magnitude 7.4 quake rolled under her back, beneath the blanket she slept on in the grass. The rugged conditions were starting to get to the earthquake survivor. She yearned for clean, dry clothes and shelter--anything that would signal a return to normalcy in this ravaged city.

A week after the earthquake destroyed nearly every building in this coastal city, there is little hope of finding anyone else alive in the wreckage. Relief organizations are finally able to concentrate on helping survivors. All over Turkey, the two thousand left homeless by the quake are in urgent need of shelter, portable showers, latrines, and vaccines to ward off disease. Officials also have made appeals for medicines and clinics to help tend to Turkey's 33,000 injured.

"The main problem right now is the hygiene conditions," a naval officer at Golcuk's base told an American Red Cross worker who was here to assess the city's most pressing relief needs.

A walk through the city reveals just how severe the problems are. People in crowded fields sleep on blankets and under rugs held up with sticks to block the sun. Bags of trash litter the sidewalks, but there is no trash service here to pick them up.

"People need diapers, baby bottles, milk, medicines, disinfectants, and blankets for the winter," Lemai Jomunia of the Health Foundation of Turkey, told the Red Cross surveyor.

Despite the conditions, people here try desperately to keep clean--a noticeably important value of Islamic culture. They wet their hands with bottled water donated by local vendors. Women rub a popular citrus liquid cleanser on their hands.

People wear masks or cover their faces with scarves to protect their lungs from the smoke that drifts here from neighboring Izmit, where an oil refinery fire burned after the earthquake. Officials fear that the pollution may lead to poisonous acid rain and may evacuate the city.

This week, rain showers exasperated the situation when runoff contaminated by dead bodies in rubble piles flowed into the streets. Officials fear massive disease outbreaks if steps are not taken to provide more sanitary conditions. In Golcuk, trucks drive through the streets, spreading white lime powder to fight disease. And as soon as corpses are pulled from the debris, they are wrapped in shrouds for burial. Then rescue workers load them into trucks and take them to mass graves. For fear that any delay may increase the chance of disease, corpses are often buried immediately. Photos are taken for later identification by relatives.

Turkish officials have asked the international community for bulldozers to speed the process of digging for the dead. Hundreds of piles of rubble still have not been searched and already the stench of decomposing bodies has seeped into the air. Fears of disease increased when Israeli doctors quarantined a 21-year-old Turkish soldier suffering from typhoid fever, an acute infection spread by contaminated food and water.

No other cases have been reported. But health workers have warned that potential killers such as cholera, salmonella, or dysentery could flare up at any time in the squalid encampments. In Golcuk, cases of dysentery and diarrhea already have been reported. Officials also fear that infections could spread in hospitals where overflow has forced surgeons to perform sidewalk operations.

But just as the situation grows more severe, relief efforts have begun to pick up speed. Government agencies and Red Cross societies from around the world have converged here to bring food, shelter, and medical care to the sick and displaced.

Tent cities with hot food have begun to spring up throughout the earthquake-ravaged region. Plans are underway to install showers and latrines at many of the camping sights. The Red Cross has set up mobile health clinics and sent doctors from around the world to heal the sick and injured. And more than 3,000 American sailors and marines are expected to arrive this week with medical supplies. According to estimates, 42 countries and 38 international organizations have sent aid to Turkey since the earthquake.

And the country itself just now seems to be emerging from a state of shock. After being criticized for their slow reaction to the earthquake, the Turkish government and military have taken their first steps to provide some relief. The government has pressed for international aid to help foot a bill that is well beyond Turkey's means. It also has pushed aside three regional governors who were slow in responding to the disaster.

The military, which itself lost hundreds of lives when the earthquake crumbled its Golcuk base, says that it now has 50,000 soldiers working on relief efforts.

In some cases, even the victims themselves have begun to help. In Golcuk, two teenage boys direct traffic around buildings in danger of collapse. Their conflicting hand signals can be somewhat confusing to approaching drivers. But the enthusiasm on their faces and the frantic movement of their arms reveal how desperately they want to help--to feel as if they are making a difference. Their enthusiasm provides a lasting impression of hope for those leaving this shattered city.

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. To help the Turkish earthquake victims, 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.