IZMIT, Turkey -- President Clinton picked his way past mud puddles at a temporary encampment Tuesday to see firsthand how thousands of homeless survivors of an August earthquake are making do. He promised continued U.S. money and supplies for rebuilding.
"We in the United States will do everything we can until your lives have returned to normal," Clinton said after a rain-drenched tour of the tent city of Dogukisla.Some 9,000 people are living two families to a tent on former farm fields now reinforced with paving stones. Most came from nearby towns destroyed or heavily damaged in the 7.4-magnitude quake Aug. 17 that killed an estimated 17,000.
After visiting several families inside their tents and touring a makeshift school, the president stood on a wooden platform to address camp residents, who applauded when he noted that most of their tents were provided by the American military.
He said the United States is sending 500 more tents to help house the homeless from a second deadly earthquake that hit last week, just before Clinton arrived for the first leg of a 10-day European tour.
"We know that we will get through this to better days," Clinton said.
A steady, chill rain fell on Clinton, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter Chelsea as they walked through the camp.
The Clintons stopped at the tent housing Ismail and Kerime Yoldas and their three daughters. The family fled a damaged home in Golcuk, about 12 miles away, where Ismail Yoldas made a living in a paper factory. They do not know when they can return.
"Everything we had is gone," Yoldas said.
Clinton told Turkish officials Monday he was weighing additional support for earthquake relief in light of the suffering caused by the second quake, only about 45 miles from the center of the August quake. The death toll from Friday's quake stood at 547.
With tens of thousands of buildings collapsed across a 120-mile swath of Turkey's industrial heartland, the destruction yields stark images: mounds of concrete and four- and five-story buildings leaning precariously to one side.
Later today Clinton was flying to Istanbul to address a Turkish business group, where he was expected to announce major new private U.S. investments in hydroelectric power, natural gas and other power projects. Clinton will remain in Istanbul for a 54-nation summit Wednesday and Thursday of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
On Monday, Clinton's first day in Ankara, police detained 110 demonstrators who gathered in the downtown area chanting "Yankee, go home!" and other anti-U.S. slogans. Two policemen and one protester were slightly injured. Most of the demonstrators belong to small, leftist parties that object to Turkey's close ties with the United States.
In an address Monday to the Turkish parliament and in appearances with President Suleyman Demirel, Clinton promoted reconciliation between Turkey and Greece, particularly in their dispute over the divided island of Cyprus. Nudged by the United States, the Greek and Turkish leaders of Cyprus will hold talks in New York beginning Dec. 3.
The double disasters, Clinton said Monday, could prove to have a silver lining: a warming of Turkish relations with historic rival Greece, whose humanitarian aid to the stricken areas has been dubbed "earthquake diplomacy."
Turks also came to Greece's aid when an earthquake struck there last summer.
"Every person who lost a loved one or a home to those earthquakes knows that there was no such thing as a Turkish or a Greek tragedy," Clinton said. "They were human tragedies, and the world will never forget the humanity each nation displayed toward the other."
Clinton expressed U.S. sympathies for the quake victims Monday and told Demirel and the parliament that the U.S. government would do all it can to help. Officials announced a donation of 500 extra tents to provide winterized shelter for 10,000 people. That is in addition to $14.5 million in U.S. aid provided after the first quake.
Demirel expressed thanks for donations made by private U.S. citizens, in addition to the government aid.
U.S. and Turkish officials signed an agreement Monday that allows the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to help Turkish authorities improve and streamline their response to natural disasters. Also, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency will sponsor a conference on Turkish reconstruction in December, U.S. officials said.
Turkey is the first stop on Clinton's 10-day European trip, which also will take him to Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and Kosovo.