Turkey’s earthquakes show the deadly extent of construction scams
The death toll has now reached 42,000, making the quakes the most lethal in the country’s modern history
WHEN THE quake hit, the apartment block in Osmaniye, where Halise Sen had once lived, collapsed like a house of cards, burying her former neighbours under nine floors of concrete. Mrs Sen, the head of the local chamber of architects, looks over the wreckage. “There’s no reinforced steel here,” she says, “so the concrete lost its strength and the columns collapsed, along with the floors, as soon as the ground started to shake.”
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Building bad”
Europe February 18th 2023
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