Turkish police are arresting more and more contractors, architects and others involved because of the buildings that collapsed in the earthquakes a week ago. There is a lot of criticism of the weak inspection that has to monitor whether builders comply with the rules.
The Turkish judiciary has issued an arrest warrant against at least 130 people. These include architects, contractors and engineers. So far, 43 people have been arrested. Others are not allowed to leave the country.
Twelve people have been detained in Gaziantep and Sanliurfa provinces because of structures that collapsed due to the earthquake. In the city of Malatya, which is about 160 kilometers northeast of the epicenter of the first quake, 31 people have been arrested.
A special investigative agency must investigate whether any crimes have been committed. The agency is investigating whether the collapse of the buildings was only due to the earthquakes or whether the building construction was also of poor quality. An example is the removal of a concrete pillar to create more space. That weakens the building structure.
Ontvang meldingen bij nieuws over de aardbevingen in Turkije en Syrië
New building regulations are also not properly adhered to
After a severe earthquake near Istanbul in 1999, it became clear that many construction companies had not taken the quality requirements very seriously. About 18,000 people died in that quake and more than 112,000 homes collapsed.
It is now becoming clear that the building regulations that were drawn up after this major earthquake were not properly observed. Moreover, there is hardly any supervision, experts have previously told NU.nl.
The collapse of thousands of buildings sparked anger at the quality of the structures. For example, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was criticized for the lack of earthquake-resistant buildings. With the arrests, Erdogan hopes to dispel discontent in his country.
At least 35,000 people have been killed in earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
