Two months after the earthquake disaster, the Turkish government continues to ignore public safety

More than two months have passed since the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes caused massive destruction and loss of life in Turkey and Syria. The rubble removal and construction work carried out by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the earthquake zone demonstrates that the unscientific “profit before lives” policies that have led to tens of thousands of casualties continue without interruption.

Six days after the earthquake, people line up to collect water in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey on February 12, 2023. [AP Photo/Emrah Gurel]

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on April 5 that the death toll had risen to 50,399 in Turkey. In Syria, whose northern regions were badly affected by earthquakes, at least 8,476 people lost their lives. However, the actual death toll in both countries is believed to be much higher.

Although more than two months have passed since the disaster, the affected area still has serious problems. Shelter is still the most important problem. At least 35,355 buildings collapsed in the earthquakes, which affected nearly 15 million people, or 18 percent of Turkey’s population.

Since the first day of the earthquake, nearly 2.5 million people have struggled to find shelter, while an estimated 5 million or more people have migrated to various cities in Turkey.

Most of the earthquake victims still live in tent cities that are not suitable for winter conditions. Some try to live in simple tents that they built themselves. There are still a few container houses, which provide better protection against rain and hail, in the area. On March 20, according to an official statement, about two million people were staying in tents and 40,000 in containers.

Tent and container cities are built in unsuitable areas that lack the necessary infrastructure. As a result, 21 people were killed in floods in Adiyaman and Şanlıurfa in the quake zone last month. Along with a number of tents, a container with two people inside was washed away in Adiyaman. The earthquake survivors also had to deal with rain and flood waters.

After the earthquakes, the government’s failure to send search and rescue teams to the area in a timely manner, provide assistance and organize the response led to public outrage. Tens of thousands of people would have been sentenced to death in an earthquake that scientists had long predicted, while many survivors died under the rubble as the government’s response failed.

This social opposition, combined with anger over the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living, has set off alarm bells in government ahead of the upcoming May 14 elections. Erdogan’s People’s Alliance risks losing the presidency and the parliamentary majority.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is desperate to reverse this and has begun taking measures to address the housing crisis facing millions of people. However, its actions are dictated exclusively by the electoral calculations and economic interests of the ruling class.

With a presidential decree on “settlement and construction within the scope of the state of emergency”, dated February 23 and issued by Erdogan, it became legally possible to open agricultural and forest areas in the region for construction for housing.

In contrast, the faculty members of the Urban and Regional Planning Department of Istanbul Technical University (İT) issued a statement on March 28, declaring: “This decree ignores the knowledge accumulated in the field and profession of urban and regional planning, which has a long history in Turkey, and has the potential to cause major problems in the medium and long term.

They continued: “As the Regional Urban Planning Department, we call for the planning of all rural and urban settlements and areas of new settlements in the region affected by the Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep earthquakes in light of the principles of social, spatial and environmental justice, economic sustainability and fair governance.”

On March 31, the university administration blocked access to the website of the department where this statement was posted, and then deleted it. Professor Funda Yermibeşoğlu, Head of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, was dismissed by the administration. Moreover, an investigation was opened “regarding the publication of the statement on the department’s website.”

The first reaction to the decisions of the İTÜ administration came from city planners and academics on social media. Against Yermibeşoğlu’s dismissal, students staged a protest on April 6, declaring that “universities, the home of science, are not expected to remain silent in the period of reconstruction.” [in the earthquake region] And that the interference of the university administration was unacceptable.”

In a press release, the students said: “The fact that there is rent-oriented and capital-oriented construction until today has added to the devastation left by the earthquake, and there was not an adequate response in the region after the earthquake. In order to heal the wounds of the earthquake, the suggestions of our teachers aim to ensure planning that gives Priority for life. We stand with our professors against efforts to silence universities!”

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Scientists have repeatedly warned the government not to start building permanent housing while aftershocks continue in the quake zone. Without detailed ground surveys, scientific studies and urban planning, this is setting the stage for new disasters.

However, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential candidate of the opposition Bourgeois Nation Alliance – who has the support of various pseudo-left groups in Turkey – vowed in a speech to “provide free housing” to earthquake victims who lost their homes.

However, he declared that he agreed with Erdoğan that “seismic housing should be built immediately.” This is an expression of the consensus of the entire capitalist political establishment, which uses the earthquake catastrophe only as a tool in the election campaign, in disregard for science and public health.

The Erdoğan government’s order to “remove building rubble and construct new buildings as soon as possible” revealed another public health problem in the quake zone: asbestos and other chemicals under the rubble.

Asbestos, lead and paint-related chemicals used in the construction of tens of thousands of now-destroyed buildings accumulate on the outskirts of settlements, posing a massive cancer risk. Asbestos-containing dust is transmitted to people by breathing while they lift, load, and store rubble. These carcinogens are then mixed into groundwater and rivers with precipitation. This cycle leads to an additional risk of contamination of the soil and vegetables with the irrigation water, again endangering the population.

Mass protests have been held in recent weeks in villages and neighborhoods near rubble dumping sites in the affected region, particularly in Hatay and Malatya provinces. On April 4, gendarmerie forces attacked a mass demonstration against rubble dumping in Yesilkoy in Samandağ district of Hatay and arrested about 20 earthquake victims.

The fact that there is still a shortage of clean water and decent shelter in the earthquake zone, and that new homes are being built with disregard for public health and safety is an indictment not only of the Erdoğan government but also of the capitalist system – the source of the “profit before lives” policy that the political establishment defends. in its entirety.

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