Survivors are overcome with grief after learning the fate of their lost loved ones  ALSO:  GALLERIES: A country lies shattered The story of a rescue VIDEO CNN's Jim Bittermann looks at construction problems that may have contributed to the high numbers of casualties in Turkey (Aug. 20) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Ben Wedeman reports that hope is fading in the efforts to save those trapped (Aug. 20) Windows Media 28K 80K INTERACTIVE: Chronology of major earthquakes over the last 20 years MESSAGE BOARDS: Turkey Quake RELATED AUDIO Click here to listen to reactions to the earthquake in Turkey

August 20, 1999
Web posted at: 5:54 p.m. EDT (2154 GMT)

In this story: Construction 'absolutely inadequate' Rescuers echo Turks' complaints Refinery fire contained in Izmit RELATED STORIES, SITES

GOLCUK, Turkey (CNN) -- Rescuers began writing off thousands of people for dead on Friday, three days after a massive earthquake devastated northwestern Turkey's industrial belt and left up to 20,000 missing amid the ruins of collapsed buildings.

The death toll from Tuesday's magnitude 7.4 quake climbed to 10,059 on Friday, the Turkish Crisis Center in Ankara said, and more than 45,000 were injured. Officials expect the toll from Tuesday's disaster will continue to rise. After three days, rescuers say those trapped beneath the rubble are most likely dead.

Turkey is no stranger to earthquakes: In the worst, 60 years ago, more than 30,000 people died. But Turkish officials said Friday the death toll from this quake could top that long-ago catastrophe.

As many as 1 million people camped outdoors for fear of more destruction, with a Friday morning aftershock unnerving many.

Medical teams on Friday were immunizing rescue workers against typhoid and warning of health dangers as more bodies were pulled from the rubble. Smashed sewage lines and the thousands of homeless living on garbage-strewn streets without portable toilets or fresh water compounded the risk of cholera and other infectious diseases.

Peter Yanev, an engineering consultant, said the Turkish quake was worse than any in the past 15 years -- including ones in Mexico City in 1985, in Armenia in 1988 and in San Francisco in 1989.

A combination of a powerful quake striking before dawn, construction techniques Yanev called "absolutely inadequate" and the region's soft soil combined to produce the widespread devastation and rapidly climbing death toll.

A bulldozer tears down the remainder of a building after rescuers found no visible signs of survivors or bodies within reach

"Here we have literally hundreds and hundreds of buildings in the middle of the night, full of people sleeping. So I think the death toll ultimately will be much larger than it appears to be today," Yanev said.

Residents of the hardest-hit area -- an industrial belt east of Istanbul -- complained that the reaction of the Turkish government has been sluggish at best and mostly futile.

In Golcuk, home of a major Turkish naval base, would-be rescuers say they expect to remove only corpses from now on. Golcuk's mayor estimated at least 10,000 of his people remained unaccounted for on Friday.

But there is not enough heavy lifting equipment to go around, and many survivors are left to desperately sift through the rubble of what were once their homes in the faint hope of saving loved ones trapped inside.

A Turkish government spokesman defended the government's efforts on Friday, telling CNN, "The magnitude of the disaster is beyond all imagination."

Sukru Sina Gurel added, "Such criticism is based on very right concerns." But with tens of thousands of buildings destroyed, 20 million people affected -- and thousands of public employees among them -- "This is beyond the capability of any government in the world.

A Turkish family grieves over the loss of their children, whom rescuers found underneath the rubble of a housing complex they lived in for only a month

"It would have been much easier had the tragedy been concentrated in one center, one urban center. There are several urban centers, and it's an area of industrial activity, and it's a densely populated area.

"Therefore, it was very hard to actually mobilize emergency measures, at least during the first two days."

But some international rescuers have echoed the Turks' complaints.

"There is a problem of coordination on all levels among those helping," said Brig. Gen. Arieh Eldad, the Israeli Army's chief medical officer.

The government can no longer deal only with immediate events, said Jurgen Weyand, a spokesman for the Red Cross. Crisis managers must plan for the immense logistical problems they will encounter three weeks from now.

In Izmit, firefighters managed to bring a blaze at Turkey's biggest oil refinery, sparked by the massive quake, under control Friday, refinery managers said. The fire had spread to seven crude oil and naphtha storage tanks, sparking fears of a major explosion.

The state oil refinery Tupras announced Thursday it was shelving all its planned purchases and deliveries because of the devastation at Izmit.

At one apartment complex in the city, four of the six buildings -- built only a year ago -- collapsed. Neighbors and relatives poured into the site on Friday, bringing whatever tools they could find as they tried to reach survivors. But there were no experts, they complained, and no professional rescue teams nor any government officials had shown up.

"If there was a military official or a high level person lying here, they would have rescue teams. But here, we are only citizens, digging alone," one man said.

An Istanbul man who came to Izmit to help find family members said someone should be held accountable for the damage.

"Whichever official gave permission to this project is responsible. These people want those responsible to be taken to court," he said.

Correspondents Ben Wedeman, Rula Amin and Jerrold Kessel contributed to this report, which was written by Matt Smith.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.