(MSNBC) IZMIT, Turkey, Aug. 18 —   Turkish officials on Wednesday announced a sharp rise in the quake death toll, now reporting nearly 3,500 dead and more than 16,000 injured. Although some people are being found alive under rubble, thousands of others are still missing along an 80-mile arc of destruction and disaster teams from around the world have joined overwhelmed Turkish rescue crews in the search.

VICTIMS AND Turkish media cast blame on building developers, claiming shoddy construction was to blame for the high toll.
 
“Murderers!” screamed a banner headline in the best-selling Hurriyet newspaper. “Once again rotten buildings, once again thieving, unscrupulous building contractors,” the paper said.  Television reports showed people amid the ruins of their homes bemoaning shoddy materials. Indeed, while somebuildings stood firm, others only yards away collapsed.
 
In Izmit, the epicenter of the quake, the toll was at least 844 dead and some 3,000 injured. In Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with 10 million residents, at least 276 people died and more than 3,600 were injured.
 
As many as 10,000 people could still be trapped in rubble around Golcuk, a navy base town near the quake’s epicenter, said Mayor Ismail Baris. Thousands more were missing in Istanbul and elsewhere.