Turkey investigates building contractors as earthquake deaths top 35,000

[applegrove]

Turkey investigates building contractors as earthquake deaths top 35,000

Ivana Saric at Axios

https://www.axios.com/2023/02/12/turkey-earthquake-building-contractors-investigated

"SNIP........

Turkish authorities have launched an investigation into contractors allegedly linked to deadly building collapses that occurred after a massive earthquake and aftershocks struck last Monday.

The latest: Turkish rescuers were still pulling survivors from building rubble alive on Monday. Among them was a 40-year-old woman, who was found among wreckage in Islahiye, Gaziantep province, some 170 hours after the quake, per AP.

The big picture: Thousands of buildings have collapsed across Turkey and Syria, with the sheer scale of the destruction and freezing temperatures hampering rescue efforts even as the total death toll surpassed 33,000 on Sunday.

* Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters Sunday that 134 people were being investigated for their roles in constructing buildings that were unable to withstand the quakes.

* Three people have been arrested, seven others were detained and seven others were banned from leaving Turkey, Bozdag added, per Politico.

* While Turkey's construction codes do meet current earthquake-engineering standards, they are rarely enforced, helping explain why so many buildings collapsed, AP reported.

* Turkish Environment Minister Murat Kurum has estimated that nearly 25,000 buildings have either collapsed or been heavily damaged by the quakes, per the Guardian.

........SNIP"

[applegrove]

2. Heather Cox Richardson linked it to authoritarianism and corruption.

Good catch on you. Hopefully a big backlash will change how things are built in Turkey.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-10-2023

[applegrove]

5. Wasn't there a big earthquake in the 1990s? That may have demanded

regulations be put into place. Glad you were able to connect with the people of Turkey when you were stationed there. Yes pessimists sometimes pick up on things others do not.

[applegrove]

8. Then the authoritarians get into power and what is good for the average

person is messed with.

[keithbvadu2]

3. Code of Hammurabi (c. 1700 B.C.E.)

Code of Hammurabi (c. 1700 B.C.E.)

229. If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction sound, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, the builder shall be put to death.

http://www.wright.edu/~christopher.oldstone-moore/Hamm.htm

[moondust]

6. construction codes "rarely enforced"

Autocrat Erdogan too busy serving himself? It's what autocrats do. See: Putin, TFG, etc.

I would expect some scapegoating/blame-shifting from the Erdogan government.