Survivors of the massive quake that destroyed north-western Turkey awoke to day seven of their ordeal yesterday under torrential rains that made their existence even more miserable as Turkey's health minister came under fire for his "ultra-nationalistic" comments on foreign aid workers.
Both private and government health officials said there had been no trace of communicable diseases thus far and many experts said fears of epidemics appeared baseless.
Local authorities have been spraying disinfectant on the rubble, distributing chlorine products to kill bacteria in drinking water and spreading lime over hastily dug mass graves.
Deep pools of water formed yesterday in holes carved out in the quest for survivors by rescue workers, whose efforts were greatly scaled down as attention focused on the living and foreign rescue teams returned home to be replaced by medical crews.
Still, an Israeli rescue team yesterday pulled a four-year-old boy, Ismail Cimen, alive from the ruins of a building in Cinarcik, where a 54-year-old woman was also found alive overnight and flown by helicopter to a hospital in Istanbul.
Ismail was pulled from the rubble after 171 hours alone in a tiny space below a collapsed balcony.
When he realised he was trapped, the boy called for his parents. When they didn't answer, he simply waited. "I was very scared," he said later in hospital.
"We thought he was dead, too," his uncle said. "I had even prepared a grave for him in his hometown."
But other graves will be filled: for Ismail's father and three sisters, aged eight to 13. The body of one sister was buried in rubble only a few yards from where Ismail was eventually rescued.
The body count, which slowed considerably over the past two days, stood at 12,418 according to the latest official count, but Mr Sergio Piazzi, a UN humanitarian agency official, said in Geneva that Turkey had asked his organisation for 45,000 body bags.
Mounting public anger was directed yesterday against Health Minister, Mr Osman Durmus, widely criticised for his handling of relief and his ultra-nationalistic statements on foreign assistance. Turkey's Tourism Minister, Mr Erkan Mumcu, said the inadequate reaction to the earthquake was "a declaration of bankruptcy for the Turkish political and administrative system that lacks a city planning policy".
Newspapers across the political spectrum were unanimous in calling for Mr Durmus's head, attacking him for having played down aid requirements in the earthquake zone and scorning foreign aid offers.
Mr Durmus reportedly disputed the need for foreign doctors, medical supplies and field hospitals in the stricken area. He was also quoted as saying he did not want Greek blood donations.