Stricter regulations were promised after quake two decades ago, but poor construction has played major role in latest disaster
After another quake in 2011 in which hundreds died, Erdoğan, then the prime minister, blamed poor construction for the high death toll, saying: “Municipalities, constructors and supervisors should now see that their negligence amounts to murder.”alone – a number that continues to rise – and more than 1 million people left homeless, it is becoming clearer that endemic corruption and lax enforcement of building codes have exacerbated the crisis.
But Turkish and international geologists, urban planners, architects and earthquake response specialists warned for years that even many modern structures across the country constituted “Violations were not sufficiently penalised to deter construction companies and investors from cutting corners, but experts say the problem was largely ignored because addressing it would be expensive and unpopular.
In the 10 affected provinces of Turkey, up to 75,000 buildings were granted such amnesties over the years, according to Pelin Pınar Giritlioğlu, the head of the Istanbul engineering and architecture union chambers. Late on Saturday, Turkey’s vice-president, Fuat Oktay, said 113 people across the country suspected of slipshod or negligent construction that may have contributed to the catastrophe had been arrested, and another 20 suspects had been identified. The developer of an upmarket 12-storey apartment complex built in Antakya in 2013 was arrested as he attempted to board a flight to Montenegro on Friday night, police said.
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