Turkish rescue services have been battling almost without a break since the quake struck early on Tuesday.

They are also short of equipment and the arrival of experienced teams like Rapid UK is expected to be a major filip.

Some of the rescuers' equipment is so sensitive it can even detect breathing under tonnes of rubble.

Cutting crew: Foreign teams are equipped with the latest gear

Graham Payne, director of Gloucester-based charity Rapid UK, which is sending a team of 11 volunteers to Turkey, said: "We have heat-seeking cameras and we have trapped person locaters, so we should not have much of a problem.

"But the dogs will be number one because of the speed they can traverse buildings and find people who are still alive."

David Sleeman: "There is still a chance of finding people alive"

His colleague, David Sleeman, said he was confident that people would still be found alive.

Rapid UK is one of dozens of rescue teams from around the world that are joining in the search for survivors.

Another 40 experts, including firefighters, paramedics, welders, mechanics and drivers, have already left for Turkey.

Thermal imaging

The group includes 27 firefighters from brigades in Cheshire, Leicestershire, Mid and West Wales, South Wales and the West Midlands and 13 search and rescue specialists from the International Rescue Corps.

Nose to the ground: Dogs will be vital in the search

They are equipped with thermal imaging cameras, videoprobes, lighting and cutting tools to help free those still trapped, said by some reports to be as many as 10,000.

Simon Webb, a spokesman for the UK fire service search and rescue team, said: "They have a variety of skills between them and some of them have worked in Montserrat after the volcano, Macedonia on humanitarian relief, and after earthquakes in Kurdistan and Mexico.

"They will be working on the technical rescues, the ones for which more technical equipment is needed, two to three to four days after the earthquake."

The European Union is sending £750,000 as a first package of humanitarian aid for the quake victims.

George Foulkes: "We are ready to consider what further help might be necessary"

UK International Development Minister George Foulkes has announced an immediate grant of £500,000 to boost the Red Crescent's appeal for international assistance, plus £32,000 to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to help strengthen local efforts to coordinate the international response to the emergency.

He said further requests for assistance would be responded to as they came in.

The earthquake, which struck in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was felt through a huge area of west Turkey and as far away as the capital Ankara, more than 200 miles away.

It was centred on the city of Izmit, some 65 miles east of Istanbul on the Sea of Marmara, but also affected Istanbul, Bursa, Eskisehir, Bolu and Yalova.