The Turkish Chamber of Architects has testified to the government’s deep complicity in the magnitude of the earthquake disaster that killed more than 43,000 people in Turkey alone. According to a report from the chamber, the government had risked the lives of many people by subsequently legalizing thousands of unauthorized buildings.
Nearly half of the buildings in the earthquake-hit region were built after 2001 – a time when strict building codes for earthquake safety were already in place. Yet half of the collapsed or heavily damaged buildings date from this period. Construction supervision has been handed over to the private sector, causing the state to neglect its responsibility to the general public.
The Chamber calls for more care during reconstruction
In view of the government’s commitment to rebuild affected regions within a year, the chamber warned that reconstruction should not take place under the same premises. According to the government, 164,000 buildings have been recorded as collapsed or severely damaged. According to the Chamber of Architects, data from recent years shows that the Toki State Housing Authority can only build about 58,500 homes per year.
Criticism of rescue operations
The report also again criticized that there had been no help in many places for days. For example, in cities in Hatay province, the government and emergency services did not begin active assistance until the fourth day. In the city of Malatya, for example, the disaster service was active from day one, but ineffective due to a lack of coordination and organisation.
The crisis response showed that the state was vastly unprepared. Governors appointed by the government are also said to have created a chaos of powers and delayed decisions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and government officials had rejected such criticism. Erdogan had admitted that there had been problems in the first few days. The government justified supply bottlenecks in the crisis regions on the basis of, among other things, the size of the affected area and the severity of the disaster.
Source: Krone
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