Israeli rescue workers carry the body of an earthquake victim in Yalova on Thursday  ALSO: U.S. military sending planes to Turkey to fight refinery fire  GALLERIES: A country lies shattered The story of a rescue VIDEO CNN's Ben Wedeman looks at the ongoing struggle in the aftermath of the quake (Aug. 19) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports that quake survivors are growing frustrated with the government (Aug. 19) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports that Turkish emergency services officials say poverty and poor infrastructure hinder their ability to respond to disasters (Aug. 19) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Ben Wedeman reports on the devastation in Turkey (Aug. 19) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on rescue and relief efforts from Istanbul (Aug. 18) Windows Media 28K 80K Rula Amin looks at the plight of survivors (Aug. 18) Windows Media 28K 80K INTERACTIVE: Chronology of major earthquakes over the last 20 years  MESSAGE BOARD: Turkey Quake RELATED AUDIO Click here to listen to reactions to the earthquake in Turkey

In this story: Photographing tragedy Aftershocks set off new fears For a few, good news Refinery blaze reported under control RELATED STORIES, SITES

August 20, 1999
Web posted at: 3:45 a.m. EDT (0745 GMT)

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- The disaster enveloping Turkey after this week's 7.4-magnitude earthquake has reached a critical level: Tents, field hospitals, food and other essentials are needed, according to the International Red Cross.

With an estimated 7,000 people dead, 34,000 injured, thousands of buildings toppled and about 1 million people camped outdoors for fear of more destruction, the government can no longer deal only with immediate events, said Jurgen Weyand of the Red Cross. Crisis managers must plan for the immense logistical problems they will encounter three weeks from now.

The Red Cross is bringing in 600 tons of food during the next few days, Weyand said. Ships and planes carrying doctors, medical equipment, fire retardant and disaster assessment crews from several nations have been dispatched.

But complaints about disaster coordination are coming from both residents and international rescue teams. "There is a problem of coordination on all levels among those helping," said Brig. Gen. Arieh Eldad, chief medical officer of the Israeli Army.

The need for heavy equipment was evident, as anguished Turks tried in vain to remove tons of debris, to rescue those entombed beneath.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit admitted Thursday what many Turks feared -- even the hundreds of professional rescue workers from around the world will not be able to save all those under the rubble. Many earthquake victims will die of injuries, or thirst and exposure.

"Thousands of buildings are in ruins," Ecevit said. "It is not possible to reach all of them."

Some 35,000 people could be buried under collapsed buildings, U.N. deputy spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

In western Turkey, the stench of decaying bodies filled the air. Ecevit said officials would accelerate burials to prevent the spread of disease.

In Adapazari, one of the hardest-hit towns, government workers buried 963 people in a mass grave. They took pictures of each of the dead so they could later be identified by families.

Even as rescue teams from throughout the world raced to Turkey, and began to dig for survivors and uncrate supplies, aftershocks rumbled through ruined landscapes. A magnitude 5.0 aftershock struck 30 miles south of Istanbul Thursday, one of some 210 aftershocks to hit the region within a few hours, the Kandili Observatory and Seismology Institute reported.

CNN's Rula Amin, reporting from Golcuk, about 75 miles southeast of Istanbul, said an early morning aftershock there lasted about 20 seconds.

"There was a rumble you could not escape or you could not avoid feeling," she said. Exhausted residents -- many homeless from Tuesday's quake, or fearing their homes could collapse -- awoke dazed on their outdoor pallets.

Rescue teams, digging through rubble, stopped what they were doing.

There were no immediate reports of more damage or injuries. The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors earthquake activity, said the latest aftershock had yet to register on its equipment.

Mehmet Ali Isikara, chief of the Seismology Institute, said he no longer expected a serious earthquake to strike the region.

Still, people were wary. In Bursa, a major city 150 miles to the south of Istanbul, the governor's office urged people to stay outside.

Rescuers work through the night, hammering through the concrete of a collapsed building in Izmit on Thursday

In at least half a dozen other towns and cities, including the capital, Ankara, people spent the night outside, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Amid the horrific scenes -- morgues overflowing with corpses, dead bodies stacked at an ice rink in Izmit, before being taken to the Turkish army's cold storage facilities -- there were uplifting moments, as survivors were plucked alive from the rubble.

In Istanbul, an 8-year-old boy was pulled from his crumbled home after being trapped for two days. In Golcuk, a little girl was pulled from under piles of concrete and steel, after a 40-hour-search. Her mother rushed to a waiting ambulance and kissed her daughter's feet.

Nearby, a 6-year-old child crawled from beneath his collapsed home. His father emerged alive a short time later.

On Friday, firefighters brought a blaze at Turkey's biggest oil refinery under control, refinery managers said.

The fire was sparked by the massive quake.

"As of 8:10 a.m. (0510 GMT) the fire in the last tank was taken completely under control," Husamettin Danis, general manager of state oil refinery Tupras, said.

At its worst, the blaze at the 226,000 barrel per day plant at Izmit, close to the quake's epicenter, had spread to seven crude oil and naphtha storage tanks, sparking fears of a major explosion.

Firefighting planes from Turkey and foreign allies had been dousing the site with water and fire-retarding chemicals.

Tupras on Thursday declared a force majeure, saying it was shelving all its planned purchases and deliveries because of the devastation at the Izmit plant.

Correspondents Jerrold Kessel and Rula Amin, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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