Rescue workers say the 3-year-old boy rescued in Cinarcik had lost weight but he did not have any broken bones    GALLERIES: A country lies shattered The story of a rescue VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports the Turkish government has been unable to pay much attention to this area because of the scope of damage elsewhere (Aug. 23) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on the possibilities that more people are alive in Turkey (Aug. 22) Real 28K 80K 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 23, 1999
Web posted at: 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT)

In this story: Government requests 45,000 body bags Minister warns of acid rain RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- A rescue team found a young boy alive in the wreckage of his apartment building in Cinarcik on Monday, but authorities said the chances of finding more survivors of last week's earthquake in Turkey shrank hourly.

A Turkish search team heard the 3-year-old late Sunday night in the ruins of a collapsed apartment building in Cinarcik, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Istanbul, according to the Israeli Embassy. The searchers calling in an Israeli rescue team, which brought the child out from beneath the collapsed structure.

"The child got very thin, but with no harm on his bones, blood, nothing at all," said Noam Amit, a member of the rescue team.

Another earthquake survivor, a middle-aged Israeli woman, was also reported in good shape after being found alive in Cinarcik.

The official count of the dead stood at 12,134 Monday, with 33,384 injured. Relief officials said the final toll from Tuesday's major quake could top 40,000 when all the bodies have been found.

Meanwhile, a Turkish search team continued to comb through the rubble of a home in Golcuk on Monday, searching for a family of four. Angry neighbors brought the rescuers in after a Malaysian team abandoned the search, believing the family dead. Dogs brought in by the Turkish team found a new, though slim, chance the family could be alive.

Turkish civil engineer Mehmet Hurbas said the search would be the last chance to find the family alive, but the would-be rescuers had found no sign of them Monday.

"We tried to force the pace ... We have to go faster," Hurbas said. "This is what we tried to do, but we couldn't even see anything at the level where we suspected those sounds came from."

He said working faster was more dangerous, "But this is the last chance we have."

Even as new stories of survival emerged, however, Turkey put in a request that underscored the tragedy: The government has asked the United Nations to help it find 45,000 body bags, said Sergio Piazzi, of the U.N. Humanitarian Affairs office in Geneva.

"We are shifting from the search and rescue phase to the acute emergency phase," Piazzi said. "But still we have hope to find some individuals alive."

A military commander said troops were focusing on setting up tent cities with proper sanitation to guard against disease. Soldiers scattered tons of lime over wrecked buildings and around tents in Golcuk, close to the quake's epicenter.

"To a large extent, search and rescue operations have now finished," said Gen. Hayri Kivrikoglu.

A tent provides a makeshift home for some of the homeless in Vlasli

The onset of rain overnight made life more miserable for searchers and the 200,000 people left homeless in Turkey's densely populated northwest by Turkey's worst earthquake in 60 years.

World Health Organization spokesman Erik Noji played down the chances of an epidemic Monday, saying truckloads of fresh water had been sent to the seven provinces declared disaster zones. No cases of cholera or dysentery had been reported, as had been feared, Noji said.

But Turkey's health minister warned Monday of a new danger -- acid rain from skies polluted by emissions from a raging blaze at Turkey's largest refinery, in Izmit.

Health Minister Osman Durmus -- who has been blasted for insensitivity in the Turkish press -- said Monday that Golcuk may be evacuated due to the threat of acid rain. He said poisonous particles were emitted during the refinery fire, which lasted five days.

Durmus has been criticized for saying Turkey did not need medical aid when field workers described acute shortages. "Enough, Shut Up and Go," the daily Radikal urged Monday.

The newspaper said Durmus had spurned aid offers by Greece and Armenia, both age-old Turkish foes. But he accused the news outlets of raising unwarranted fears.

"I take being called 'ignorant and racist' as a compliment," he said, but added, "How could I refuse Armenia, Russian, Greek, American aid? It is not true."

Correspondents Jim Bittermann and Jerrold Kessel and Reuters contributed to this report.

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