Turkey arrests builders 6 days after earthquakes

ANTIOCH, Turkey (AP) — As rescuers continued to pull a few lucky ones alive from the rubble, six days after two earthquakes devastated southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, Turkish authorities halted or issued arrest orders for some 130 people allegedly involved in constructing buildings that collapsed and buried their occupants.

The toll from Monday’s earthquakes reached 28,191 by Sunday morning, with more than 80,000 injured, and it was certain it would continue to rise as more bodies were recovered.

Desperation was also fueling outrage over the slow pace of rescue efforts, with attention focusing on who was responsible for not better preparing people in an earthquake-prone region. The earthquake also hit a region of Syria that had been suffering from civil war for years.

Although on paper Turkey has building regulations that meet current earthquake engineering standards, these protocols are often not enforced, which is why thousands of buildings have collapsed sideways or top to bottom. on their residents.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said late on Saturday that arrest warrants had been issued for 131 people suspected of being responsible for collapsing buildings.

The country’s justice minister pledged to punish all those responsible, and prosecutors began taking samples of building materials to use as evidence. Although the earthquakes were violent, victims, experts and residents across Turkey blamed poor construction for compounding the devastation.

Two contractors accused of destroying several buildings in Adiyaman were arrested at Istanbul airport on Sunday, according to the private DHA news agency and other media. The two were on their way to Georgia, according to reports.

Authorities also arrested two people in Gaziantep province accused of cutting pillars to save space in a collapsed building, according to state news agency Anadolu.

The Turkish Ministry of Justice had announced the day before that “Earthquake Crime Investigation” offices would be created. These offices would identify contractors and others responsible for construction work, gather evidence, train experts such as architects, geologists and engineers, and verify building and occupancy permits.

An entrepreneur was arrested at an Istanbul airport on Friday before he could board a flight from the country. He was the builder of a 12-story luxury building in the historic city of Antioch, Hatay province, which killed an unknown number of people when it collapsed.

The arrests could help direct public discontent at builders and contractors and away from state and local authorities who have allowed seemingly irregular construction to continue. The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, already in the grip of an economic crisis and runaway inflation, faces parliamentary and presidential elections in May.

Survivors, many of whom lost loved ones, also expressed frustration and anger at authorities. Rescuers were overwhelmed by the extent of the damage, which affected roads and airports, further complicating the race against time.

Erdogan admitted this week that the initial response had been hampered by the extent of the damage. He said the hardest-hit area in Turkey was about 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter and had a population of 13.5 million. During a tour of quake-hit towns on Saturday, Erdogan said a disaster of this magnitude was unusual, again describing it as the “disaster of the century”.

Rescuers, including teams from other countries, continued to search the rubble in the hope of finding more people who could challenge the dwindling odds of survival. Thermal imaging cameras were used to search among piles of concrete and metal as rescuers called for silence to hear the voices of those trapped.

Two sisters were pulled from wreckage in the town of Adiyaman on Sunday 153 hours after the first earthquake, according to HaberTurk TV, which also broadcast the rescue of a 6-year-old boy live. Footage showed the boy covered in a thermal blanket and placed in an ambulance. An exhausted lifeguard removed his surgical mask and took a deep breath as a group of women could be heard cheering.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca shared a video of a girl dressed in dark blue who had been rescued. “Good news at hour 150. Recently rescued by teams. There is always hope!” he tweeted.

The efforts of a team of Turkish and Italian rescuers also paid off when they pulled a 35-year-old man from the rubble of the battered city of Antioquia. The man, Mustafa Sarigul, appeared unharmed as he was carried on a stretcher to an ambulance, 149 hours after the first earthquakes, according to private broadcaster NTV.

A child was also rescued overnight in the town of Gaziantep in Nizip, according to state-run Anadolu, while a 32-year-old woman was rescued from the ruins of an eight-storey building in Antioch. The woman, a teacher named Meltem, asked for tea as soon as she was released, according to NTV.

In Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter of the first 7.8 magnitude quake on Monday morning, work was underway to reach a survivor detected by bloodhounds under a seven-story building, NTV reported.

However, those found alive remained the exception.

On the outskirts of Antioquia, a large makeshift cemetery was being prepared. Bulldozers and bulldozers dug trenches in the field as trucks and ambulances loaded with black body bags kept arriving. The hundreds of graves, barely a meter (3 feet) apart, were marked with simple wooden planks nailed vertically to the ground.

The situation was less clear on the other side of the border with Syria.

The death toll in the rebel-held region of northwest Syria has reached 2,166, according to the White Helmets rescue group. The total death toll in Syria stood at 3,553 on Saturday, although the death toll reported in government-controlled areas of 1,387 has not been updated for several days.

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Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara.