U.S. Orders More Aid Equipment, Personnel Be Shipped to Turkey

WASHINGTON —  The U.S. government issued orders Thursday to dispatch more military equipment and personnel to Turkey amid news that five Americans were among the thousands of people who perished in that country’s devastating earthquake.

Adding to the flow of aid from around the world, U.S. military officials sent four C-130 and one C-17 cargo aircraft, a medical team and additional disaster-relief experts. Looking ahead to the next phase of recovery, they began making arrangements to provide 30,000 tents and to distribute hundreds of thousands of ready-to-eat meals.

U.S. officials and charity workers urged Americans to send money to help the recovery effort because it is much easier to deliver than donated goods. The best contribution is “in a word, cash,” said Roy Williams, director of the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

The magnitude 7.4 quake knocked down thousands of buildings in the heavily industrialized northwest corner of Turkey.

The five dead Americans are Turkish-born Nizam Kilic, of Marietta, Ga., and four of his grandchildren, ages 9 months to 6 years old. Officials declined to identify the victims, citing privacy concerns, but their names were made public by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.

Nizam Kilic’s son, Babur Kilic, an anesthesiologist practicing in Georgia, had left his father and children in Turkey for a summer vacation. On Thursday, Babur Kilic was reported to be en route to Istanbul to make funeral arrangements.

Two other Americans were injured and two are missing, authorities said. Their names were not released pending notification of relatives.

The C-130 Air National Guard planes were dispatched from Port Hueneme, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Cheyenne, Wyo.; carrying airborne firefighting equipment and supplies. The C-17 was to carry 22,000 pounds of firefighting equipment to help extinguish blazes set off by the quake.

The planes were to leave at various times Thursday and today, and are scheduled to arrive in Turkey by Saturday.

Also en route, from the U.S. regional military command in Europe, is a 22-person team to evaluate medical needs, and a second group to assess humanitarian needs.

The Navy’s 6th Fleet has already dispatched three ships with 123 medical personnel, 631 beds, six operating rooms, along with 22 helicopters to ferry the injured to help. The ships--the Kearsarge, the Gunston Hall and the Ponce--left Spanish ports carrying 1,000 sailors and 2,100 Marines.

Kenneth H. Bacon, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, requested the 30,000 tents, and might receive some that were used by U.S. peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. U.S. forces also have 475,000 high-calorie ready-to-eat meals that can be used to ease hunger in Turkey, he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers is offering to send a party of “structural analyzers” to Turkey to offer advice on which buildings remain sturdy enough for further use, Bacon said.

The United States is also sending plastic sheeting and 30,000 blankets to protect people living in the open.

The first sizable group of relief workers to arrive in Turkey from the United States included 70 people, most firefighters, from Fairfax County, Va. They began search-and-rescue work Thursday, and had recovered their first three survivors by evening, officials reported.

U.S. officials said they stand ready to do much more.

“We have over the past few days been doing all [that] we can at all levels” to aid Turkey, Marc Grossman, assistant secretary of State for European affairs, told reporters.

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Comparing Fault Lines

How the North Anatolian fault in Turkey compares to California’s San Andreas, and some of the major earthquakes on each. Tuesday’s quake on the North Anatolian struck Turkey’s economic heartland.

Turkey

Site of Tuesday’s magnitude 7.4 quake.

1939 7l9 quake that killed 30,000

Fault slip rate*

*Fault slip occurs when two sides of a fault section move past each other, sometimes accompanied by barely perceptible tremors.

California

1857 Ft. Tejon 8.0 quake

1906 San Francisco 8.2 quake

* Fault slip rate: .75 to 1.5 inches a year.

Source: U.S. Geological Society; “Peace of Mind in Earthquake Country.”