Tens of thousands of buildings have collapsed like houses of cards since the February 6 earthquake. Turkish authorities have launched 564 investigations targeting developers and contractors, according to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. Already “564 suspects have been identified so far, 160 of them have been imprisoned, 18 are in police custody and 175 have been released under judicial supervision”, detailed the minister during an interview on Wednesday evening on the public channel TRT.
“We have banned all these identified people from leaving the territory,” he added as anger swells over fraud and the lack of public control in this sector, which has driven the Turkish economy for the past 20 years. Tens of thousands of buildings collapsed without leaving the slightest chance to their occupants seized in their sleep by the violent earthquake of a magnitude of 7.8, which occurred at 4 am.
Destruction to come
The responsibility of certain builders, who used poor quality materials or who did not respect the standards, is denounced in the Turkish media and by engineers and architects. Several promoters were arrested in the first days following the earthquake and the government is displaying its diligence in dealing with the file. Environment Minister Murat Kurum said on Thursday that “1.250 million buildings have been examined in the eleven provinces [touchées] “.
“164,321 buildings made up of 520,000 independent units (housing, shops) have been destroyed, seriously damaged or will have to be destroyed urgently,” he insisted. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced his intention to build 270,000 homes in one year in the devastated provinces. “We make our plans taking into account the cultural fabric, the future of our children and our cities on the safest grounds. (…) We will build new housing with this design,” said Murat Kurum.