On February 6, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit southern Turkey and neighboring Syria. In Hatay, one of the most affected Turkish provinces, relief was slow to arrive, and residents had to fend for themselves for the first 48 hours. Help finally came from all over Turkey and abroad. Too late for thousands of families, who have heard the voices of their loved ones trapped under the rubble slowly dying out.
In this part of the country, the Turkish government is widely criticized. It denounces corruption in the construction industry and the authorities who turned a blind eye to the non-compliance with seismic rules, in a country yet located on several of the most active fault lines in the world. Two and a half weeks after the earthquake, Turkey has not finished counting its dead. The provisional toll amounts to more than 45,000 victims. Research was stopped in several provinces last weekend, when the earth shook again on Monday evening. Back to the first hours that followed this disaster, the most serious in the history of modern Turkey.
“Turkey: when the earth shakes” is a great report by Manon Chapelain.
Source : RFI
