With fury swollen in Turkey Due to government inaction during Monday’s devastating earthquake and what critics are calling substandard construction, the government has begun arresting building contractors across the country, whom it blames for some of the collapses that have skyrocketed the death toll to more than 21,000.

State news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday that more than 100 people were arrested in 10 earthquake-hit provinces as the Turkish Ministry of Justice ordered officials in those provinces to set up “earthquake-related crime investigation teams.” He also asked them to appoint a prosecutor’s office to initiate criminal proceedings against all “constructors and persons in charge” for the collapse of buildings that did not comply with existing planning rules that were put in place after the related disaster in 1999.

Across the quake area, residents expressed anger at what they called corrupt contractors seeking more profits and government “amnesties” for developers who built housing estates that didn’t comply with the new rules.

In the Saraikid district of Antakya, residents pointed to the poor quality of construction of a newly built 14-story luxury building with about 90 apartments that collapsed.

“I am not an engineer, I am not a contractor,” he added. “How do I know what’s going on?”

His neighbor, 38-year-old Mehmet Celik, a high school teacher, said that the big problem is the so-called “settlements” for buildings not built in accordance with the town planning rules that the government makes from time to time to legalize such buildings. It’s a convenient policy, he says, because no one wants to condemn a building or apartment they’ve paid for. However, the building is vulnerable to earthquakes.

In the city of Antiyaman, the main street looked like a construction site scattered all over the place, square by square. But instead of building buildings, crews of cranes, bulldozers and excavators are digging up the ruins of those that have collapsed.

Residents say rescue teams and aid were slow to arrive at first after Monday’s massive earthquake that killed more than 21,000 people in Turkey and nearly 4,000 in neighboring Syria. The main street is now full of carriages.

Source: New York Times