CNN
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has acknowledged the government’s “shortcomings” amid mounting anger over the state’s response to a devastating earthquake earlier this week that is known to have killed more than 21,000 people.
Days after an earthquake hit Turkey’s Gaziantep province near the Syrian border, rescuers are racing against the clock in freezing conditions in a desperate scramble to pull survivors from the rubble. Up to 23 million people could be affected by the disaster, according to the World Health Organization’s latest estimates, amidst questions about the country’s preparedness.
Gaziantep is a huge mountain littered with rubble and wreckage where houses and buildings once stood. As the frantic search for survivors continues, emergency responders regularly ask people in the immediate vicinity to keep quiet and temporarily move heavy equipment while rescuers check trapped residents for signs of life. asked to stand still.
In an official response, President Erdogan declared a state of emergency in 10 states for the next three months. The country’s disaster management agency has deployed search and rescue teams to the hardest-hit areas, and the health minister has announced that a field hospital has been set up.
Erdogan vowed to take “all necessary measures” and unite the country to “not leave a citizen behind” during his visit to multiple earthquake-stricken areas on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the president acknowledged public concerns over the government’s response, admitting that the state initially “had some problems” with airports and roads, but the situation is now “under control.” ” he claimed.
Erdogan also angrily lashed out at “some dishonest people” for “falsely slandering” the government’s response to the earthquake, a moment when unity was called for, and “in such a time, A vicious and negative campaign for simple political gain cannot be tolerated.”
He continues: The difficulty of weather conditions added to the magnitude and prevalence of the destruction caused by this earthquake felt over a 500-kilometer region inhabited by about 13.5 million people. Nevertheless, we mobilized all national and national resources and directed them to the affected areas. ”
“Of course there are drawbacks. The conditions are clear.
Erdogan’s remarks came amid growing public discontent after reports emerged that powerful tremors had leveled entire towns in the country’s north. Access to Twitter was temporarily restricted in Turkey amid growing dissatisfaction.
Network monitoring firm NetBlocks said Wednesday that traffic filtering was applied at the Internet service provider level while users complained they couldn’t access Twitter. Access was restored by Thursday morning following an update on the situation from Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
“Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will resume soon,” Musk said. I have written.
Turkey’s Information and Communication Technology Agency oversees internet use in the country and has not acknowledged the restrictions or provided reasons for the restrictions experienced by users. Multiple people have been detained or arrested after the above quake-related “provocative posts” and “wanting to abuse citizens” websites were shut down.
Turkey is an earthquake-savvy country due to its location on multiple tectonic plates, but disasters like Monday’s are not common.
This week’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake is one of the most powerful to shake the region in the last century. In 1939, a similar magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the eastern part of the country, killing more than 30,000 people, according to the US Geological Survey.
After the devastating earthquake that killed more than 17,000 people in 1999, the Turkish government introduced a so-called ‘earthquake tax’ to provide assistance as a result of the economic losses caused by the disaster.
The tax, dubbed the “special communications tax” by authorities, is one of six taxes introduced after the catastrophe. Initially introduced as a temporary measure, it has since become a permanent tax. Ozanbingol, an expert in local taxes billed for the past 24 years, estimates that the state has collected about 88 billion Turkish lira as a result.
Last year, up to 9.3 billion lira (about $500 million) was collected. It is unclear how the tax money was used, and whether some of it was used to reinforce the building or for earthquake countermeasures, increasing public dissatisfaction.
The Turkish Ministry of Finance lists the tax as “general budget revenue”, but the government has not specified exactly how the money raised was used. means that it is expected to be used as a “service to people” for projects such as building roads, bridges, hospitals, and other general payments.
In Gaziantep, home to the ruling AKP, there was a generational divide among residents over the state’s disaster response.
Qadir Suliman, a 23-year-old student, told CNN: I criticize those who criticize the government. they should protect themselves.
Another student, Mustafa Yudrem, 23, responded to the criticism, questioning what more could have been done in the face of such widespread devastation.
“We had 10 earthquakes in 10 cities across the country. What more can the government do? , let us know if the building has been inspected by the state and if it has been cleared for safety. I did it, and it’s all free.”
Photos: Deadly earthquake hits Turkey and Syria
But Aziz Karabekmez, a 68-year-old retired electrician, denounced the government’s efforts, accusing it of “taking money from us for free.”
“This country is prone to earthquakes, so they should protect our neighborhood,” Karabekmez said. “The front-line people sifting through the rubble are not Turks, but Kazakhs and foreign volunteers. They don’t know how to work. Why?”
Similarly, 70-year-old retired engineer Mehmet Ali Karabekmez shared his frustration: “They are swallowing our money.”
Karabekmez added: The Turkish authorities work very slowly. I see them flee every time the building shakes a little. they have no experience. ”
More than 5,700 buildings have collapsed in Turkey, according to the country’s disaster agency. With so much damage in both Turkey and neighboring Syria, many are starting to ask about the role the building infrastructure played in the tragedy.
“Most of the time we have a type of collapse called pancake collapse, which is the type of collapse that engineers don’t want to see,” said Mustafa Erdik, professor of earthquake engineering at Boazici University in Istanbul. I’m here. “In a collapse like this, it’s hard to see and it’s very tragic to save lives. Search and rescue operations are very difficult.”
Erdik told CNN that images of the vast ruins in the aftermath of the quake show “great diversity in design and construction quality.” He said the type of structural failure after an earthquake is usually a partial collapse. he added.
Kishor Jaiswal, a USGS structural engineer, told CNN on Tuesday that Turkey has experienced severe earthquakes in the past, including one in 1999, which killed thousands.
Jaiswal said many areas of Turkey have been designated as very high seismic hazard zones, so building regulations in the region ensure that construction projects can withstand these types of events, most of the time leading to catastrophic collapse. It means that it should be avoided.
But Jaiswal said not all the buildings were constructed according to modern Turkish seismic standards. Design and structural deficiencies, especially in older buildings, meant that many could not cope with the severity of the impact.
“These structures may not perform well if they are not designed for the seismic intensity they may face during the design period,” said Jaiswal.
Erdik also said he believed many of the collapsed buildings were likely “built before 1999.” He also added that some buildings may not be code compliant.
“The Turkish Code is very modern and very similar to the US Code. We have permission from the local government, design control, and construction control, but there is still something missing.”