Investigation against building builders started in Turkey

Most of the buildings that collapsed in last Monday's (February 6) strong earthquake were built in the last few years. Public anger has arisen due to the collapse of these newly constructed buildings in the earthquake. Allegations have been raised that proper laws were not followed during the construction of these buildings.

The BBC has scrutinized the allegations of collapse of recently constructed buildings. Most of these allegations were found to be true.

The Turkish Ministry of Law and Justice has started a judicial investigation against the builders to ascertain whether there was any negligence in the construction of these buildings. Minister in charge of this ministry Bekir Bozdag confirmed this information in a press conference on Friday.

In the press conference, the Minister said, "Our Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has started an investigation against the construction companies of Kahramanmaras and other affected provinces. If the buildings had been constructed in accordance with the government guidelines, then surely we would not have seen so much loss of life.
The Istanbul head of Turkey's Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects' Chamber of City Planners, Pelin Pinar Giritlioglu, said that about 75,000 buildings in areas affected by Monday's earthquake in southern Turkey were covered by the amnesty.

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Days before the disaster, Turkish media reported that a new draft law was awaiting approval in parliament. If it is approved, the old buildings as well as the recently constructed buildings will also get amnesty after construction without following the rules.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the border region between Turkey and Syria early Monday morning. Although earthquakes of this magnitude are very strong. However, experts say, if the buildings were built maintaining standards, then they should have survived even after this earthquake.

In 1999, a magnitude 7 earthquake occurred in southwestern Turkey. More than 14 thousand people were killed in that disaster. Then the central government of Turkey issued an order to build earthquake resistant buildings across the country. The building construction companies were also given instructions in this regard.

Turkey and its neighboring country Syria were shaken by an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 at 4:17 am local time on Monday. 15 minutes after that earthquake, another large earthquake of magnitude 6.7 followed by several aftershocks.