Rescuers in Golcuk continue to search for more earthquake survivors Monday, but hopes of finding more people alive are dwindling    GALLERIES: A country lies shattered The story of a rescue VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on the possibilities that more people are alive in Turkey (Aug. 22) Windows Media 28K 80K Wade Medlock reports that dehydration kills many quake victims after 72 hours, but some beat the odds (Aug. 21) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Ben Wedeman reports that for each rescue, hundreds more corpses are being discovered (Aug. 21) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports six people were pulled from the rubble of Tuesday's earthquake (Aug. 21) 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 22, 1999
Web posted at: 11:19 p.m. EDT (0319 GMT)

In this story: Son's dream prompts rescue of mute mother Families keep vigils for one last look Massive tremor possibly was two quakes Tent cities and mass graves RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Rescuers worked frantically into the early hours of Monday, having detected signs of possible survivors six days after a massive earthquake buried much of Turkey and killed more than 12,000 people.

Emergency teams in the devastated cities of Golcuk and Yalova worked under floodlights in a desperate bid to drag people out alive.

In Golcuk, an emergency team of Malaysians, Turks and Turkish Cypriots used a large crane and jackhammers in a bid to reach what they thought were as many as four survivors.

"There's still a response, but it's getting weaker and weaker, so we are running short of time," one of the crew members told CNN.

Rescuers reported hearing tapping noises during moments of silence, ordered periodically to help locate the sounds.

Hours before dawn, a trained sniffing dog quietly walked over the rubble, silently urged on by his handlers.

In Yalova, NTV television channel said a team of U.S., Bulgarian, Israeli and Turkish rescuers believed two more people were alive under tons of the rubble.

Erik Noji of the World Health Organization said 85 percent to 95 percent of rescues from such a disaster were made within the first 48 hours.

"But people have been known to survive for up to two weeks in very exceptional circumstances if they are trapped in void spaces," he said, adding they must have water.

Son's dream prompts rescue of mute mother

At least one more extraordinary survivor emerged from the debris on Sunday. A disabled woman unable to cry for help was found alive by a French rescue team and Turkish soldiers at 2 p.m. local time, more than five days after the quake.

Adalet Cetinol, 57, was taken to a hospital in Istanbul suffering from kidney problems, state-run Anatolian news agency said.

Her son, Darcan, said he urged rescuers to the wreckage after a dream in which his mother called out: "I'm alive, come and save me."

There were reports of several more survivors rescued on Sunday, but none could be independently confirmed.

Families keep vigils for one last look

U.N. officials says the final death toll from Tuesday's quake could reach about 40,000, once all the bodies still buried under the rubble are recovered. The latest death toll was 12,134, with more than 33,000 people injured.

In many places, the search for the living was scaled back and there was only the roar of machinery ripping into the wreckage where rescuers once carefully listened for any signs of life. Survivors, some with family members still buried, watched helplessly.

"We can't even get our dead," said Osman Bakay, who has two relatives still caught in a collapsed five-story building in Yalova, about 30 miles south of Istanbul.

But many kept nearby vigils despite the stench of death, hoping for one last look at loved ones.

Rescue workers try to remove a concrete slab of what was a seven-story building, where possible survivors have been detected

Massive tremor possibly was two quakes

Istanbul and Izmit felt more aftershocks on Sunday and a mild tremor was reported in the eastern province of Elazig, far from the area of last Tuesday's magnitude 7.4 earthquake.

A leading geologist said Sunday that the earthquake was actually two consecutive quakes. Prof. Aykut Barka of Istanbul Technical University said the tremors were 20 seconds apart. Together, the two quakes lasted about 45 seconds at 3 a.m. Tuesday, he said.

In Golcuk, soldiers pitched white tents and health officials spread white lime powder in gutters throughout the city, close to the epicenter of the quake.

A foul stench hangs over the cities -- some of which are nearly totally destroyed -- in the country's northwest.

Tent cities and mass graves

On the outskirts of what used to be thriving industrial and holiday towns and cities, thousands of tents have sprung up to house some of the estimated 200,000 left homeless by the quake. And mounds of earth covered with lime mark hastily dug mass graves.

A lack of running water, toilets or electricity, along with predicted rain, has sparked fears of infectious disease in many places.

But Noji played down the chances of an epidemic and said truckloads of fresh water had been sent to the seven provinces declared disaster zones.

"The correct response is the provision of clean water," he said. "And there is plenty of clean water there."

Noji said there had been no reports of cholera or dysentery and only isolated cases of diarrhea.

Looking grim, President Suleyman Demirel pledged on Sunday to take measures against future earthquakes by introducing building standard reviews, better seismic monitoring and increased cooperation between different arms of the state.

"The ground beneath us is rotten. Yet we have no choice but to live on it," Demirel told a news briefing at the main earthquake observatory in Istanbul.

Turks have accused their leaders and military of acting too slowly and without coordination.

Correspondents Jerrold Kessel and Ben Wedeman and Reuters contributed to this report.

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