In Turkey, 113 arrest warrants have been filed in connection with the construction of buildings that collapsed during Monday’s earthquake, according to government officials.
The Turkish police have already detained at least 12 individuals, including construction workers.
In the meantime, instability in southern Turkey has impeded rescue efforts in several locations.
The number of confirmed deaths in Turkey and Syria has increased to almost 33,000.
More arrests are anticipated, but many will view this as an attempt to deflect accountability for the calamity as a whole.
Experts have warned for years that many new structures in Turkey are hazardous due to pervasive corruption and government practices.
To promote a construction boom – particularly in earthquake-prone zones – these laws granted so-called amnesties to contractors who violated building regulations.
Thousands of buildings collapsed during the earthquake, prompting questions about whether human shortcomings exacerbated the impact of the natural calamity.
After twenty years in office, the president’s future is uncertain as elections approach.
Mr. Erdogan has acknowledged response failures, but during one visit to a disaster zone, he appeared to blame fate. He stated, “Such things have always occurred.” It is part of fate’s design.
Six days after the earthquake, the situation is becoming increasingly dire.
Saturday, German rescuers and the Austrian army ceased search efforts in Hatay province due to skirmishes between unknown factions. One rescuer predicted that security will deteriorate as food supplies diminish.
Pierre Kugelweis, an Austrian lieutenant colonel, stated that the level of hostility between Turkish factions is on the rise. The likelihood of saving a life is not proportional to the safety risk.
The search for survivors resumed under Turkish military protection.
Across southern Turkey and northern Syria, millions of people are homeless as nighttime temperatures continue to fall below freezing.
More than 800,000 people are without basic food, according to the United Nations, and its humanitarian organization on the ground warns that the eventual death toll from the earthquake is likely to quadruple.
Syria’s death toll has surpassed 3,500, although no updated data have been released since Friday. On Sunday, the death toll in Turkey surpassed 29,000.
Despite several remarkable rescues, the likelihood of discovering many more survivors is dwindling.
A family of five from the Turkish province of Gaziantep was recovered from the wreckage on Saturday, along with a seven-year-old girl from Hatay who spent 132 hours buried.
The United Nations relief chief, who was in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras on Saturday, called the earthquake the “worst occurrence in this region in 100 years.”
Martin Griffiths told, “I think it’s the worst natural disaster I’ve ever seen, and it’s also the most incredible international response I’ve ever seen.”
Mr. Griffiths has called for the abandonment of regional politics in the face of the calamity, and there are indications that this is occurring.
On Saturday, the border crossing between Turkey and Armenia reopened for the first time in 35 years to allow humanitarian aid to pass.
