Delaying an adequate earthquake response on an area of Turkey full of undesirables (Kurds) was probably an ideal way of solving a moderate level of the Kurdish problem, according to Turkish supreme ruler Erdoğan.
The estimated death toll could easily reach over 100,000 people, but at the moment of writing is 15,000. Despite this being one of the worst earthquakes of recent times, even the British media are mostly ignoring the story, relegating it to a few inch columns far away from headlines about the latest Love Island news. It seems in 2023, life is cheap, especially if the humans who were crushed to death are from some dark detested part of the world.
It is true to say that Erdoğan’s Turkey does not have many friends in the world circuit, but even so, some European countries at least made an effort to send humanitarian help and professional earthquake response teams. Meanwhile, Erdoğan stood by with little or no response to the area.
On the ground, help did not come for many for over 48 hours, and residents who did survive say they organised their own diggers to help to rescue the buried, but were told they were forbidden from using them until the government help came, so they waited, and it never came. In one area, it was three days before a Spanish rescue team came to help.
Much of the nightmare of demolished buildings could have been avoided if proper building regulations and construction were adhered to, but governmental corruption is so rife in Turkey that it is terminal.
Earthquakes it seems are very efficient ways of taking care of certain problems.
