Years Of Cut Corners And Code Violation Leniency Likely Spiked Death Toll In Turkish Quake

Massive destruction and a death toll that has risen to more than 33,000 people after an earthquake in Turkey and Syria may have been exacerbated by forgiveness of construction violations.

Now the pro-growth Turkish government that went easy on violations as a matter of policy is arresting contractors and launching an investigation into what it is calling earthquake crimes.

Turkish lawmakers passed legislation about five years ago allowing property owners to have construction violations forgiven without bringing their buildings up to code, The New York Times reports.

On the campaign trail in 2019, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan touted the legislation, which allowed contractors to bypass construction codes tightened to make buildings more earthquake-resistant following a 1999 earthquake that killed more than 17,000 people. At the time, with the country experiencing an economic boom, Erdogan said it “solved the problems” of more than 438,000 property owners.

But now that more than 29,000 people in Turkey were killed by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Feb. 6, the country has responded by criminally charging contractors and others tied to collapsed buildings. The government issued arrest warrants for 131 people across 10 provinces and began arresting people Saturday, Turkish state Anadolu News Agency reported.

More than 80,000 people were injured by the quake and its aftershocks. Upward of 120,000 structures in about 25,000 buildings collapsed, Turkish Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum told the news agency.

The earthquake impacted a large area because of the size of the fault break, but many buildings are still standing after the quakes, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Susan Hough told Anadolu News Agency.

“That is testimony to the fact that buildings can be engineered to be safe and it appears, in many cases it appears, that they were,” Hough said in the interview. 

Hough said buildings can be constructed to withstand the strongest shaking earthquakes can generate.

“We have building codes developed, there are international building codes that specify how construction has to be done to make buildings earthquake resilient,” she said, according to the article. “So a building might be damaged by an earthquake if it’s properly built to the code, but the idea is that it won't collapse. That the goal is to keep people from being killed.”

Turkish residents interviewed by the NYT expressed anger at corrupt builders they accused of cutting corners to fatten profits and at the government, which offered amnesty to builders of apartments that did not meet code. One 14-story apartment purported to be a luxury building collapsed on itself, according to the article.

Two contractors tied to collapsed buildings in Adiyaman, Yavuz Karakus and Sevilay Karakus, were detained Sunday at the Istanbul Airport, the NYT reported, citing state-run news media.

“My conscience is clear,” Yavuz Karakus told reporters after his arrest. “I built 44 buildings; only four have collapsed.”

Turkish experts say failures at multiple levels, including local officials too easily granting permits and inspectors who didn’t look closely enough at work sites, created the environment that allowed the widespread death and destruction.