According to the New York Post on February 12, local time, the two earthquakes that occurred in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria have killed more than 34,000 people and injured more than 80,000.
It is reported that the number of victims on the Turkish side is updated daily, but this is not the case on the Syrian side, as of the report on the 11th, the number of earthquake victims in the war-torn country is 3553, but this is the number of days ago, they have not been updated for a long time.
But in any case, such figures are undoubtedly sad, although the earthquake is a natural disaster, but the damage caused so much, "man-made disaster" cannot be omitted.
On the 12th, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag announced that 131 construction contractors had been arrested on charges of "suspected participation in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand earthquakes."
Bozda has vowed to punish those responsible, and prosecutors are collecting construction materials, among other things, as evidence, so that those who "cut corners" in building buildings are brought to justice. Despite the magnitude of the earthquake, victims, experts and others across Turkey blamed bad construction for the damage.
Many construction contractors reportedly fled in the aftermath of the quake. Two (couples), allegedly contractors in charge of several buildings in the Adyaman district, were arrested at Istanbul's airport and were supposed to fly to Georgia.
Yavuz Karakus, the arrested husband, pleaded up in an interview: "I have a clear conscience. I built 44 buildings, four of which were destroyed. I do everything according to the rules."
It is reported that Karakus is so "righteous" because he has the documents in his hands that allow his construction. According to the US press, "Turkey's building codes comply with current seismic engineering standards, at least on paper, but they are rarely enforced, which explains why thousands of buildings have collapsed and weighed on the people inside".
Like Karakus, there is a contractor named Mehmet Yaşar Coşkun, who is responsible for the construction of a 12-story apartment building that was once an iconic apartment building in the Karamanmarash area of Hatay province, which was considered high-quality residences, but fell "neatly" to the ground in the earthquake, killing countless residents inside. Even so, Kosquin insisted that "the building complied with regulations" and that he did not know that the building could not withstand an earthquake.
Before the attorney general's announcement of the arrest of the contractors involved, his department also announced plans to set up an "Earthquake Crime Investigation Bureau" aimed at these construction contractors and other people responsible for construction work, and those responsible for collecting evidence, including architects, geologists and engineers, who would visit the site.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, most of the survivors were depressed and desperate, some of them not only lost their families and homes, but also the problem of food and clothing after the earthquake was difficult to solve, despite the assistance from many countries around the world, but still some "more monks and less porridge", not to mention that not everything will reach the hands of the victims.
Over time, despair turned into anger, which is a big part of the arrest of hundreds of contractors as part of quelling grievances.
But it is clear that this will not solve the real problem, and the future life of the people will still be full of hardships.