Three weeks after the devastating February 6 earthquake, more than 600 people are being investigated in Turkey. They are more or less directly involved in massive building collapses. According to Turkey’s Minister of Justice, entrepreneurs and property owners are among the 184 people already detained awaiting trial.
About two million people have been displaced from their homes across the country. Even if the apartments were not all destroyed, some were weakened and could no longer be occupied.
Teams also work tirelessly to demolish buildings that pose a threat and clear the debris. “All the important and valuable objects of the people stayed in their homes. Everyone must have a valuable item left behind. The authorities didn’t even allow us to take out a single needle,” said Shukran Iyisoylu, a resident of earthquake-hit Diyarbakir.
According to the government, more than a million buildings have already been inspected. 173,000 buildings have either collapsed or been so damaged that they have to be demolished.
The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is now 50,000.