The Turkish Prosecutor's Office issued more than 100 arrest warrants against people suspected of negligence in the construction of buildings and has created a specialized unit to investigate what happened.
Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay said Sunday that authorities had so far identified 131 people suspected of being responsible for the collapse of some of the thousands of fallen buildings.
"We will follow up this meticulously until the necessary judicial process is concluded, especially for the buildings that suffered serious damage and caused deaths and injuries," Oktay said.
"29.605 citizens have lost their lives," says the Turkish emergency service AFAD. If we add to these figures the more than 3.500 dead in Syria the death toll exceeds 33.000 in both countries.
Almost 150.000 people have been evacuated from the ten affected provinces and 233.000 people work in rescue work with more than 12.000 vehicles and machinery. The latest figures for injuries given by the Turkish government exceed 80.000, highlights EFE.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice has promised to punish those responsible and the prosecution began to take samples of materials used in construction to use as evidence.
Victims, experts and people in Turkey blamed poor construction for multiplying the devastation
Rescue work continues
Although more than six days have passed since the quake, in the last 24 hours more than a dozen people have been saved, from a three-year-old girl to an 85-year-old woman, who had spent between 140 and 155 hours under the debris.
Almost 10.000 people have arrived from other countries to help with the rescues, including several Spanish teams of health workers, firefighters and the military.
Seventy planes and 167 helicopters are also helping to assist victims and more than 300 mobile kitchens, 33 mobile bread ovens and 83 toilet facilities have been transferred to the region so far, the agency added.
The area affected by the earthquake covers more than 100.000 square kilometers - an area larger than that of a country like Portugal - and is home to approximately 10 million people.
looters arrested
Türkiye security forces have arrested at least 64 suspected looters buildings damaged by the strong earthquakes that shook the country at the beginning of the week, the country's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Sunday, February 12, Anadolu reported.
Bozdag noted an increase in reports of such incidents in recent days, saying that prosecutors' offices are conducting an effective investigation of the crimes.
"So far, 64 suspects have been prosecuted for 75 separate incidents in these regions. Of these, 57 suspects were arrested and seven others were sentenced to precautionary measures of judicial control," he said.
