BBC News Online: World: Europe

Miraculous quake rescues

Five children and a 95-year-old woman were rescued on Saturday as the death toll rose to 11,000.

In Cinarcik, 30 miles south of Istanbul, Israeli soldiers managed to free 10-year-old Shiran Franco from the debris of a collapsed building.

The head of the Israeli rescue effort, General Gaby Ophir, said: "It was a moment of extraordinary emotion ... when we brought out the little girl alive."

However, two hours later they found the lifeless body of her twin brother Aryeh. Her father and grandparents are also feared to have perished.

Turkish and French rescuers freed 11-year-old Merve in the seaside town of Yalova.

"She said 'I'm frightened. I've been here two days. My sister is dead,'" a rescuer told Reuters news agency.

She was rushed to a waiting ambulance with her father. Her sister and brother are dead and it is not clear what has happened to her mother.

Sisters saved

A French team assisted by Turkish volunteers rescued two sisters - Ilknur, 19, and Oznur, 10 - in the town of Golcuk, the Anatolia news agency reported.

AFP news agency reported that in Dermederek, a Greek team rescued nine-year-old Gez Bezbul, 17 hours after a sniffer dog tipped them to his presence.

He was uninjured but suffering from dehydration.

"We are so happy ... Until now, we had only pulled dozens of bodies from the rubble," a fire department spokesman said in Athens.

One rescue worker said children were better able to survive because they required less air and water, and were smaller.

A 95-year-old woman was rescued by the Austrian army in a block of holiday homes, overlooking the Sea of Marmara

However, in Adapazari, workers from a UK-based aid agency, Rapid UK, failed in their efforts to rescue a family of four trapped under a collapsed building.

(Click here to see a map of where the earthquake struck)

The confirmed death toll continues to rise and thousands still missing it is feared that the final figure could reach 45,000.

Some 33,000 people injured in the quake and its aftermath are still receiving medical treatment.

Without proper water supplies or sanitation, and with thousands of bodies yet to be buried, fears are mounting that the summer heat could trigger epidemics of cholera, typhoid and dysentery.

Philippe Heffinck, the head of the United Nations relief agency Unicef in Turkey, said the biggest need was for generators and portable toilets.

Specialist teams helping

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the money from countries around the world was invaluable, but sanitation was the most pressing problem.

"On Monday three teams of specialists will visit all the disaster areas to find out exactly what is needed," he said.

"Then we will know what to request from donor countries."

He said that as well as looking at practical obstacles, the teams would also assess trauma, and how best to help people deal with it.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on governments and international aid agencies to "redouble their efforts" to get help to survivors.

Mr Annan said Turkey would need help for many months to come.

"The needs remain enormous both for initial relief and rehabilitation," Mr Annan said in a statement at UN headquarters in New York.

His deputy spokesman, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, said the UN was prepared to co-ordinate the international relief effort and was already working to produce lists of what was needed from donors.

Navy aid

Mr Annan's comments came as three US naval ships prepared to dock in Istanbul on Saturday to join the rescue and relief operation.

The USS Kearsarge - the largest US naval vessel in the area - and two supporting ships will provide 22 helicopters, cranes, bulldozers, jeeps and more than 2,000 American marines.

They also carry an impressive array of medical facilities including five x-ray units and six operating theatres.

Read the accounts of those who experienced the earthquake by clicking here

(click here to return)

Relevant Stories

UK aid flights head for Turkey (21 Aug 99 | UK)
Helping the earthquake orphans (21 Aug 99 | Europe)
Surviving against the odds (20 Aug 99 | Health)
In pictures: Earthquake three days on (20 Aug 99 | Europe)
Eyewitness: Queueing for survival (19 Aug 99 | Europe)
Turkish quake: Can you help? The latest (20 Aug 99 | Europe)
Turkey's environment feels the heat (19 Aug 99 | Sci/Tech)
Shockwaves hit political arena (19 Aug 99 | Europe)
The search for quake survivors (19 Aug 99 | Europe)
BBC News Online helps trace missing (19 Aug 99 | Europe)
Deadly history of earthquakes (17 Aug 99 | World)

Internet Links

National Earthquake Information Center (US)
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Turkish Daily News
USS Kearsarge home page
Global Earthquake Report
World Health Organisation

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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