Frustration and mounting anger over earthquake rescue operation

Chaotic conditions and poor co-ordination are hampering efforts to rescue the last survivors of Turkey's earthquake, the death toll from which stood last night at over 7,000.

It is thought that hundreds of people could still be alive under the rubble, more than 72 hours after the earthquake struck the north-west of the country, leaving a trail of devastation and collapsed buildings. However, specialists in rescue techniques say the critical deadline is fast approaching, beyond which the chances of pulling people alive from the wreckage sink to virtually nil.

Attempts to find survivors in the worst-affected areas were still being stymied yesterday by a shortage of specialist equipment and qualified rescue teams, or by their late arrival. Traffic jams, soaring temperatures and differences of opinion over the direction of the rescue operation combined to produce scenes of chaos in Golcuk, where the mayor says more than 10,000 people are buried. In the absence of help from outside, the rescue operation is still, in many places, being left to ordinary people - friends and families of the missing - who continue to dig into the ruins of buildings with shovels, pickaxes or even their bare hands.

But hope is fading, and anger is continuing to rise.

"There is no co-operation, no co-ordination here. No one is in charge," said Mr Bulend Ertekin, echoing a commonly-heard complaint on the streets of Golcuk and other towns in the region.

Mr Ertekin was searching for his mother, but was unable to find help or technical equipment to dig into the debris that remains of her apartment block.

Local people say they need winches and cranes to lift the concrete slabs which collapsed during the earthquake. On one site in Golcuk, a mechanical digger was brought in to help the dig, only to slice the leg off a corpse it unearthed from the rubble.

Similar scenes were reported yesterday in the town of Sakarya, which was also badly hit. A Swedish rescue team arrived at one site where they were due to dig for missing people, only to find that the area had been cleared and flattened by a JCB hours before.

The continuing disorganisation in the rescue effort led one leading Turkish newspaper yesterday to dub the search for survivors "Fiasco Rescue Operation". In other areas there was better news, as survivors were dug out from the wreckage of their homes. In one incident, a six-year-old girl crawled out, unaided and uninjured, from a heap of collapsed masonry.

Meanwhile, the fire at Turkey's largest oil refinery at Izmit continues to burn ferociously, in spite of official claims that it was under control. Smoke from the blaze enveloped the town throughout the day, blocking out the sun and filling the air with acrid fumes.

Thousands of people throughout north-western Turkey continue to live and sleep out of doors, fearful of further tremors. A spokesman for the Irish embassy in Ankara said last night it had no reports of Irish casualties in the disaster. The embassy has fielded many requests for information from Irish citizens concerned about friends and family members in Turkey.

A number of foreigners, including at least three Germans, are among the victims.

Agencies add: Turkish authorities ordered two million people to spend the night outside amid fears of a second big earthquake. The alert is in Bursa 140 miles from Istambul.

US officials said five Americans were killed in the earthquake and two others are missing. The IMF is to give Turkey $325 million in emergency aid, the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, said yesterday.

The European Commission President-designate, Mr Romano Prodi, sent a letter of condolence to Turkish president Suleyman Demirel and promised to help the country.