The death toll in Turkey from a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck more than a week ago has surpassed 31,000 and continues to grow as hope fades in the search for survivors. More than a million are homeless, and temporary shelter and humanitarian aid remain in short supply.
Another 3,500 are believed dead in Syria, where millions were already displaced and living as refugees — now many of those are homeless.
People and aid organizations from around the world have opened their hearts and their wallets in response to the crisis — as often happens when such human suffering enters our homes each day on the evening news.
Relief efforts have been hindered by damaged roads, closed airports in the quake region, a damaged Turkish port, and freezing temperatures. Devastation is everywhere, and food and water are difficult to access and available almost exclusively through the work of aid agencies. Thousands of buildings have been destroyed with even more rendered unsafe.
But the crisis and its heart-wrenching aftermath have been exacerbated by a government and an autocratic president so intent on top-down control that aid efforts were slowed and a region known to be earthquake prone was ill-prepared and ill-equipped with basic emergency supplies. Medics on scene complained there weren’t enough body bags available for the dead or blankets available for the living. Those mourning their losses are also angry about the lack of emergency equipment in the region, which could have saved more lives had it been available for rescue efforts earlier.
And long before this quake hit, in a region where common sense and good government would have demanded earthquake-proof new construction, Turkey’s lax building code was a long-running scandal.
So now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is doing what any right-thinking autocrat would do under the circumstances — he has begun shifting the blame in advance of an election scheduled for May.
By Saturday Erdogan’s government had ordered the arrest of more than 130 people. The head of one company that had constructed a 12-story building with 250 apartments that was completely destroyed in the quake was arrested at Istanbul Airport about to board a flight to Montenegro. More arrests are underway.
The Turkish Justice Ministry ordered officials in the hardest hit provinces to set up “Earthquake Crimes Investigation Units” and begin the hunt for “those responsible” for the collapse of buildings that failed to meet existing building codes.
Turkey, once considered an economic tiger in the region, has had a sordid history when it comes to enforcing building codes that existed more in theory than in fact.
In 2018, shortly before Turkey’s last presidential and parliamentary election, Erdogan’s government announced a sweeping amnesty program for companies or individuals found to have violated those building codes. By paying a fine, builders could avoid having to bring their properties up to code. It was estimated by the agency responsible for enforcing those codes that about half of all buildings in the nation were not in compliance. That included some 13 million apartments.
The Chamber of Geological Engineers of Turkey published a series of reports in 2021 that raised alarms about existing buildings and new construction in what is now the quake region. It urged the government to conduct studies to ensure that buildings were up to code and built in safe locations.
The fact that many of the nation’s biggest contractors were also supporters of the president and his ruling Justice and Development Party was no secret. Neither was the state of Turkey’s building construction.
“The building stock in the area was weak and not sturdy, despite the reality of earthquakes,” Eyup Muhcu, president of the Chamber of Architects, told the Associated Press.
The devastation will also carry economic consequences. A country already battered by 50 percent inflation will now likely take an $84 billion hit to its economy even as huge segments of its infrastructure will have to be rebuilt.
A combination of official indifference, outright corruption, and a preoccupation with centralizing power have come back to haunt the Erdogan government as another election looms. But what is clearer now than ever is that Turkey and its people deserve far better than they are getting from a government that is supposed to serve them and protect them.
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