The Turkish Radio and Television High Council (RTUK) has ordered three major TV channels to pay fines for their coverage of the deadly February 6 earthquake and its aftermath. In particular, the channels Hulk TV, Tele1 and Fox were accused of carrying out propaganda against the government because they pointed to delays in the response of the state apparatus to the earthquake and support for the victims. Halk TV, which is closely linked to the Republican People’s Party, the country’s main opposition mainstay, and Tele1 were sentenced to pay fines equal to 5% of their total January revenue, according to opposition MPs, and were further ordered to suspend all programs for five days.

At the same time, anger is growing in the country against contractors, who are considered the main culprits of the easy and widespread collapse of buildings, which in some cases were only ten years old. Urban Development Minister Murat Kurum has estimated that 164,000 buildings with more than 530,000 apartments were completely destroyed by the quake, while many accuse builders of obtaining building permits through questionable procedures and failing to comply with safety measures.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 564 suspects have been identified and 160 arrested, with many more under investigation. “Our cities will be built in the right places, our children will grow up in stronger cities. We know the challenge we are facing and we will come out of it stronger,” he told state broadcaster TRT Haber.

Anger is being poured out on contractors who are believed to be primarily responsible for widespread building collapses.

Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to restore all housing within a year, while Soylu estimates that 313,000 state-sponsored tents have already been set up and 100,000 containers will soon be set up to accommodate nearly 1,200,000 homeless people. Erdogan said on Tuesday that about 865,000 people are living in tents and 23,500 in containers, while 376,000 are in student and public hostels outside the affected area.

Nearly 50,000 dead

Every day the number of victims continues to grow. Turkey’s interior ministry said yesterday that the country’s death toll as a result of an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale had reached 43,556. The death toll in rebel-held areas of northern Syria, which was also hit by Enceladus, is 4,500, according to the UN, while the death toll in areas it controls is 1,414, according to the country’s official government. a fact that brings the total to almost 50,000.

At the same time, the World Health Organization warns that this number is likely to rise sharply as we better assess the situation, and is sounding the alarm about the transmission of infectious diseases, as corpses and current supplies of water decompose in a number of areas under the rubble. not yet fully restored.