Section A·Page 10
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, August 19. 1999
World
Search continues in Turkey for earthquake victims
The Associated Press
ISTANBUL, Turkey—Terrified earthquake survivors sought the safety of open ground Tuesday as the enormity of Turkey's tragedy became clear: more than 2,000 people killed, 13,000 injured and thousands more missing after an overwhelming show of nature's power.
Layer by layer, from thousands of sites around western Turkey, the ruins of homes and apartment buildings gave up their dead — many in the pajamas and nightgowns they wore when the immense earthquake wreaked its 45 seconds of terror and destruction in the chilly hours before dawn. Some bodies were shrouded in the blankets and sheets of their own beds.
Geophysicists at the U.S. National Earthquake Information Center described the quake as one of the most powerful recorded in the 20th century, nearly rivaling the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that devastated San Francisco in 1906. It was felt as far east as Ankara, 200 miles away, and across parts of the Balkans.
As many as 10,000 people could still be trapped in rubble around the town of Golcuk, (pronounced GUL-jik) 80 miles southeast of Istanbul, according to the town's mayor, Ismail Baris. Thousands more were missing in Istanbul and elsewhere.
State TV reported 500 dead in Sakarya, a city 90 miles east of Istanbul.
The semi-official Anatolia news agency, quoting the prime minister's crisis center, set the overall death toll at 2,138 and the number of injured at 13,179 on Wednesday.
U. S. scientists initially reported the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8, but acknowledged later Tuesday that its intensity might be downgraded to as low as 7.4 as additional measurements were taken into account.
The memory — and fear — of quakes runs deep among Turks. Tens of thousands of people fled to the outdoors and refused to return home amid more than 250 aftershocks. Highway medians, parks and empty lots were turned into makehift tent cities.
"We are terrified of returning home.
We will have nightmares for a long time," said Leyla Osbell, hanging blankets from trees to shade her three young children.
Authorities evacuated eight villages Tuesday near the town of Altinova, 175 miles southwest of Istanbul, because of a leak at a damaged natural gas station there, said Nihat Ozgl, the governor of the nearby town of Yalowa. It was not clear how many people were evacuated
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit toured some of the worst hit areas before chairing an emergency Cabinet meeting Tuesday.
Under a brilliant summer sun, the hunt through the rubble produced both woeful discoveries and joyful reunions
In the Avicular district on the impoverished fringe of Istanbul, a boy cried out from the cracked concrete slabs and splintered plaster that was once his home: "Help me! I'm still alive!"
His appeal was momentarily lost in the din of desperation and anguish. Survivors wailed for those who perished when buildings shook, then entombed, sleeping families. Trucks
and backhoes rumbled as they peeled away debris. Rescue workers — some digging with picks or bare hands — carted away corpses and tried to listen for any signs of life.
"I'm here!" the boy yelled again. A worker touched his hand. "Oh, thank you," sobbed 6-year-old Memet Arsgulou. Soon he was free, weeping and hugging his mother.
Nearby, a mother tried to pry away a wall of cement blocks that she believed covered the room of her baby daughter. She eventually gave up and pounded her fists on the remains of her home.
"No, no, no!" she yelled. "Why God?
Why?
Although the quake left few marks on central Istanbul — the museums, majestic mosques and Ottoman sites familiar to tourists — the edges of the 12 million strong metropolis revealed the potential hazards of communities hastily built to accommodate the crush of rural fortune seekers. Shoddy apartment blocks and shantytowns crumbled in the quake or collapsed floor upon floor. To the southeast of Istanbul, the dev
astation was near total in some places.
Ozgal, the governor of Yalova, said: "There are hundreds of buildings collapsed. We need everything — field hospitals, kitchens, tents and ambulances."
In Izmit, an industrial city near Golcuk, medical workers smashed pharmacy windows to get supplies for hospitals swamped by the injured. More than 109 sailors were dead or missing in the ruins of barracks in Golcuk.
A host of nations, including the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Iran and even Turkey's fierce rival Greece, offered rescue teams and equipment, including dogs trained to sniff out humans trapped in the rubble.
"We can only imagine how difficult this is for them, and we will do what we can to help," President Clinton said in Washington.
"It's going to take Turkey a long time to recover," Richardson said, calling the quake "devastating."
U. S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who was in Istanbul for talks on oil and gas pipeline projects, said he felt "45 seconds of very violent shaking" at 3 a.m.
U.S., Russia to discuss plans for reducing nuclear arsenals
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — The United States and Russia began talks Tuesday on reducing their nuclear arsenals and on U.S. plans to set up a new antiballistic missile defense system.
The three days of talks were not expected to produce any agreements, although the sides were likely to explore the possibility of a START III treaty that would cut their nuclear weaponry to 2,000 to 2,500 warheads each.
The U.S. team was led by Undersecretary of State John D. Holum. Grigory Berdennikov, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's department for security and disarmament, led the Russians.
The existing START II treaty, signed by both countries in 1993 but not yet ratified by Russia's parliament, calls for both countries to scale back to 3,000 to 3,500 warheads each.
Russia has also agreed to listen to U.S. proposals on amending the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. The United States is considering a proposal for an anti-ballistic missile defense system that is currently banned under the ABM treaty.
The U.S. plan calls for a defense system that could shoot down a single missile or a small number of missiles from such countries as Iran or North Korea. It would not be designed to counter the kind of large-scale missile attack that Russia is capable of launching, the Americans say.
Moscow adamantly opposes such changes, saying a new anti-missile defense system in the United States would upset the strategic balance.
But Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed to discuss ABM modifications when he met President Clinton in Germany in June.
Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the Russian military and diplomatic elite have been deeply critical of Yeltsin's decision to discuss the ABM treaty, seeing it as a betrayal of national interests.
However, Moscow has expressed a strong interest in a START III agreement, which would allow the cash-strapped government to save money.
The new treaty cannot be formally agreed upon until the Russian Duma ratifies the START II treaty
The Kremlin has urged the Duma to make START II a priority, but lawmakers say there is virtually no chance of approval until after a new parliament is elected in December.
Lebanon guerrillas attack soldiers in Israel to avenge leader's death
The Associated Press
MARKABA, Lebanon—Hezbollah guerrillas avenging a commander's slaying killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded four others in clashes Tuesday in southern Lebanon that also left one guerrilla dead, security officials said.
Israel sent its air force on several bombing runs during a fierce four-hour artillery, mortar and rocket battle in Wadi Slouki, a valley across from the Israeli-occupied zone.
Israel confirmed airstrikes on Lebanon, but did not have immediate comment on its casualties. It was the most serious fighting since Israel air raids in central Lebanon in June, where 10 people were killed.
The Israeli casualties, if confirmed, would be Israel's first combat fatalities in Lebanon since Prime Minister Ehud Barak took office in July. They almost certainly would increase calls in Israel for a withdrawal.
Barak has pledged to pull the army out of Lebanon within a year. He suggested the fighting would be what would make it possible to remove
the Isreali army from Lebanon by agreement.
Meanwhile, in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut, a funeral was held for commander Ali Hassan Deeb, better known as Abu Hassan, who was killed by roadside bombs Monday in the southern port city of Sidon.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for the bombing. No one has claimed responsibility.
More than 8,000 Hezbollah supporters marched behind Abu Hassan's coffin. Ceremonies were conducted in a traditional Shiite Muslim manner.
The crowd shouted slogans borrowed from Hezbollah's Iranian revolutionary mentors: "Death to America! Death to Israel!" and "America is the Great Satan!"
In Tuesday's combat, fighter jets fired two missiles at the Wadi Slouki area, which is believed used by Hezbollah guerrillas as a base.
An Israeli army spokesman in Jerusalem said jets destroyed a Hezbollah gun and towing vehicle, but there was no independent confirmation that any guerrilla targets were hit.
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