Observers have already blamed poor construction methods \u2013 as well as government failures \u2013 for the deaths of thousands of people in the Turkish earthquake.<\/p>\n
More than 33,000 people are known to have died in last Monday\u2019s earthquakes (6 February) in Turkey and Syria, with some estimates <\/a>predicting this number will double.<\/p>\n Turkish police have already arrested at least 12 people linked to the construction of some of the approximately 25,000 buildings destroyed or seriously damaged in the 7.8- and 7.6-magnitude quakes, the BBC reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yesterday (12 February) Turkey\u2019s vice president Fuat Oktay announced that 131 suspects had been identified as responsible for the collapse of some of the buildings flattened. He said special investigation units had already been set up in the ten affected provinces.<\/p>\n \u2018We will follow this up meticulously until the necessary judicial process is concluded, especially for buildings that suffered heavy damage and caused deaths and injuries,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n The Guardian<\/em><\/a> claimed the arrests were \u2018likely to be seen as an attempt by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan<\/a> \u2026 to deflect blame’, saying that the president \u2018faces tough elections in May\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As already reported by the AJ, regulations introduced in Turkey after a previous earthquake 24 years ago should have ensured that modern buildings were able to withstand quakes of this magnitude.<\/p>\n But it has been widely reported that tens of thousands of buildings were granted \u2018construction amnesties\u2019 over several decades. These enabled owners of structures built without the required safety certificates to gain legal exemption upon payment of a fee, a situation that critics say has long risked catastrophe.<\/p>\n According to essayist Kaya Gen\u00e7 writing in the Sunday Times<\/em>,<\/a> 7.5 million buildings benefited from the most recent construction pardon, which was issued in 2018, shortly before the latest presidential and parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n This allowed dangerous practices, including unregulated repairs and even the removal of load-bearing columns to make space for banks or shops on the ground floor of multistorey residential buildings.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, whistleblowers in Turkey have been dealt with harshly, Gen\u00e7 reported, with Tayfun Kahraman, the executive board chairman of the Chamber of Urban Planners, and Ayse Mucella Yapici, an architect from the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, both now serving 18-year sentences because of their opposition to construction and development plans.<\/p>\n Architects & urban planners have long warned that building codes related to seismic activity are insufficiently enforced & have been undermined by an amnesty for illegal construction \u2013 introduced by Erdo\u011fan\u2019s own gov \u2013 that netted $3bn in revenues.https:\/\/t.co\/U7kDzigJEV<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Elmira Bayrasli (@endeavoringE) February 7, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n