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WORLD NEWS Friday 8 February 2019
Turkey: Illegal construction a focus as collapse deaths rise

In August, Turkey’s emer- Some 2.4 million people other buildings in the vicin-
gency management would be left homeless. ity had seven, nine or 10
agency, AFAD, warned That warning was made on floors, despite receiving
that up to 30,000 people the anniversary of the Aug. permits for five.
could be killed in Istanbul 17, 1999, magnitude-7.4 “Provincial authorities are
if a magnitude-7.5 earth- earthquake that killed in the process of identify-
quake were to hit the city more than 17,000 people in ing them and ... action will
of 15 million. northwestern Turkey. be taken against buildings
The agency estimated On Thursday, Murat Ku- that carry risks,” he said.
50,000 people could be rum, the environment and “Our citizens’ lives and
critically injured and 44,802 urbanization minister, ac- property are of paramount
buildings could collapse. knowledged that several importance.”q

Rescue workers continue to remove rubble from an eight-story
building which collapsed a day earlier in Istanbul, Thursday,
Feb. 7, 2019.
Associated Press
By MEHMET GUZEL screaming,” she said.
SUZAN FRASER Dag added: “People are
Associated Press gone... Just like that disas-
ISTANBUL (AP) — As emer- ter during the earthquake,
gency teams worked this is the same.”
around the clock in search Officials have said the
of any more survivors building’s top three floors
trapped in the rubble of were built illegally although
an eight-story apartment the cause of the collapse is
building in Istanbul, its col- still under investigation.
lapse put the spotlight on Experts from the Istanbul
illegal construction and branch of the chamber of
raised alarms over the civil engineers who visited
scope of possible destruc- the site concluded that
tion in the event that a the “load-bearing columns
large earthquake hit the had lost the capacity to
city. carry the weight” of the
Search teams recovered a building, the group said in
total of seven bodies from a statement Thursday.
the rubble on Thursday, A majority of buildings in
raising the death toll from Istanbul are “either un-
Wednesday’s collapse to licensed, illegal or were
10. Thirteen people were constructed without any
pulled out of the debris with engineering services,” the
injuries, including a 5-year- group claimed.
old girl who was rescued “You don’t need to be a
on Thursday, 18 hours after civil engineer to guess (the
the collapse of the build- result) of a probable earth-
ing in the mostly residential quake,” the group added.
Kartal district, on the Asian That group and others
side of the city. have strongly criticized a
Authorities have not dis- government amnesty for
closed how many people illegal constructions that
remain unaccounted-for. was introduced last year
The building had 14 apart- to bolster the ruling party
ments with 43 people regis- ahead of elections.
tered as residents. “Such disasters will contin-
Neighbor Cemile Dag said ue,” the group warned.
the collapse brought to Can Akin, of the Chamber
mind haunting images from of Geology Engineers told
a deadly earthquake that The Associated Press that
hit northwestern Turkey in many buildings in Istanbul
1999, destroying thousands were built without an ad-
of homes. equate investigation of the
“At first I thought a gas ground conditions.
tank had exploded in our “Istanbul is situated on a
building. I looked behind seismic belt,” Akin said. “In
me and the building, like the event of an earthquake
a deck of cards, fell to the in Istanbul, we could be
ground. There were wails, faced with a dire picture.”