As the official death toll from last week's earthquake in Turkey rose dramatically yesterday, the government's efforts to house survivors were severely criticised.
The Turkish government's crisis centre in the capital, Ankara, revised its estimate for the number of lives lost in the earthquake from 12,148 on Monday to 17,997 yesterday. The Turkish media estimate another 30,000 people are buried underneath the rubble.
Public outrage at what they see as the inadequate response of their government to the disaster mounted as local television stations broadcast pictures of survivors sheltering from the rain in body bags. Along the coast of the Sea of Marmara on the south-western outskirts of Istanbul, thousands of people sheltered in makeshift tents made from blankets, bed linen and sheets of plastic.
Vigilante groups armed with shotguns and sticks patrolled the ruins of their homes against looters, 51 of whom have been arrested so far in the earthquake zone.
Local newspapers were critical of the quality of materials used in tent cities erected outside the towns worst affected by the disaster. The tents near Yavlova, which were set up without foundations, became flooded, and survivors were forced to spend the night standing or trying to sleep leaning against lamp posts.
The Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, in an interview with CNN, said his government was tackling the housing problem and promised that anyone left homeless by the earthquake would be housed in tent cities within one month. After that, he said, "hundreds of thousands" of prefabricated houses would be provided and, "within a year, we will have established settlements in geologically secure areas".
