Aid floodgates open as toll mounts

A 15-day-old baby was pulled from the rubble of an apartment almost 48 hours after the earthquake. The saving of baby Tugba Sevinc in the town of Golcuk is one of many heart-lifting stories as local and foreign rescuers race against time to find more survivors.

Fire-fighters made progress overnight against a huge blaze at an oil refinery north of the city of Izmit. One petrol tank was extinguished and fire-fighters were attempting to extinguish the fire in two other containers.

Four other tanks were out of control but fears that the blaze could spread to a nearby chemical and gas facilityappeared to have receded. A special unit arrived early on Thursday from France.

Residents in a five-kilometre radius have been evacuated and taken to safety.

More than 7,900 Turkish soldiers, as well as teams from abroad, using sniffer dogs, are in action to find survivors and casualties.

International help has poured in to Turkey with teams from Germany, Britain and other countries all contributing to the rescue effort. Even Greece, a long time adversary of Turkey has put aside political differences and sent much needed help to the country.

The US Navy ordered three ships and 2,100 Marines to Turkey to help in search and rescue and relief operations.

The US Sixth Fleet in Naples said the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group was travelling from Spain. It has 631 hospital beds, six operating rooms and five X-ray rooms. Its personnel includes eight doctors, three dentists and 88 medical corpsmen.

The World Bank promised millions of dollars in loans to Turkey. 8220;Within 36 hours of the earthquake, wereallocated around 100 million dollars out of existing loans and have already identified another 120 million dollars in new loans to be available for reconstruction needs,8221; Bank President James Wolfensohn said.

Most of the quake8217;s victims died in Kocaeli province, where 4,300 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged.

The highlight of the rescue effort was the involvement of Greek Cypriots who had temporarily put aside their quarrels with an old foe and rallied to offer aid to quake-hit Turkey.

Greek Cypriot doctors were due to travel to Turkey on Thursday to help treat survivors of Tuesday8217;s quake. A local radio station in Tunisia had started a public appeal for Financial donations.

8220;Turkey needs all the able hands it can get,8221; said Neophytos Xenofondos, mission director for the Cyprus branch of Medical Charity Medecins du Monde Doctors of the World.

There is no love lost between Turkey and Greek Cypriots. They have spent the most part of three decades vilifying one another over the politicalsituation which divides the island.

The internationally recognised Cyprus Government has no diplomatic relations with Turkey, which supports a breakaway Turkish Cypriot mini-state in the North.

But the magnitude of the catastrophe that struck its northern neighbour has touched many in Cyprus, which made the unprecedented move on Wednesday of offering medical aid.

Xenofondos said the organisation had opened bank accounts for quake victims and urged people to make contributions.

8220;I think we should find it in us to help,8221; he told Reuters.

Astra, a private radio station, opened a public appeal for donations on Wednesday.

8220;There has been a warm response from the public and all the political parties,8221; said Chief Editor George Pavlides.

Considerable assistance has also been pouring from Germany, which has airlifted fire-fighters and fire engines to Turkey on Thursday to battle fires caused by the devastating earthquake.

Equipment includes seven fire engines and 20 fire-fighters fromFrankfurt and the BASF Chemicals which were due to arrive in Turkey aboard transport aircraft later on Thursday, said the spokesman.

A total of 200 German search and rescue experts are now working in the Turkish quake zone, the spokesman said.

Stepping up the German effort, the Defence Ministry said it had offered to send Turkey any equipment or aid that Ankara deemed necessary to cope with the disaster.

A Defence Ministry spokesman said there were still no details of materiel requested by the Turkish armed forces.

The German Foreign Ministry said four German nationals had been killed in the quake and a further four were still missing.

With over 2.1 million resident Turkish nationals, Germany has the biggest Turkish population outside Turkey.