“The Abandoned Survivors: Corrupt Construction and Lack of Anticipation in Turkey’s Earthquake Disaster”

2023-05-06 11:42:55

The survivors of the violent earthquake consider themselves abandoned by the State. Oppositions and experts denounce corruption in the construction sector following the collapse of thousands of buildings as well as Erdogan’s lack of anticipation.

North of the Syria, the scars of the earthquake are still visible. Hundreds of ruins and abandoned buildings, haunted by the thousands of people who disappeared on the morning of February 6th. A desperate situation for the survivors, threatened for years by the civil war and the regime of Bachar el-Assad.

“It’s an area that’s been in conflict for over a decade now. And I think the really takeaway is that it’s almost impossible to separate the needs that existed in the northwest of Syria before the earthquake of those who really existed following the earthquake Even before the earthquake, at least 4.1 million people in northwestern Syria, or regarding 90% of the population , depended on humanitarian aid to meet their most basic needs…. You know, it’s also an area that has a huge population of displaced people, many of whom live with the very real physical and mental scars more than a decade of conflict and who have already been displaced several times even before this earthquake” explain Jennifer Higginsresponsable communication d’International Rescue Commitee.

On the other side of the border, Türkiye, more than 100,000 buildings collapsed. The fault according to many, with lax and corrupt authorities which let the manufacturers circumvent the regulations.

According to a report from theHIMaround 3 million Turks have been displaced…but 20% of those who have moved are already trying to return home.

Queen of the Sundaysrepresentative of theUNICEF in Türkiyecomments: “We see a lot of displacement in the north of the country around Izmir, Ankara, Istanbul Konya. And we can follow that as UNICEF very precisely, especially because we follow the schooling of children. And certainly there is a hope that new jobs can be created during the reconstruction process as well.”

A disaster that will have a significant impact on the general elections which will see President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu next May 14, according to experts.

Ironically, the incumbent president was in power 20 years ago thanks to the mismanagement of another devastating earthquake that claimed tens of thousands of lives in 1999.

According to the first estimates, the reconstruction of the region should cost 90 billion euros…

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