Today, Explained - Turkey's man-made catastrophe

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

Thousands of buildings collapsed after Turkey’s massive earthquakes. Now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is facing a backlash for an amnesty program that gave developers retroactive approval for shoddy construction. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained   Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Turkey has created a new group to deal with the catastrophic toll of two earthquakes. They're not rescuers, they're not builders. They're called earthquake crimes units. In Turkey, arrest warrants have been issued to contractors, architects and engineers accused of constructing the buildings that came down. But some say it's an attempt by the government to deflect from its own failings ahead of elections in May. For years, Turkish politicians seeking election, including the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, gave amnesty to contractors and developers who admitted their buildings weren't up to code.

And then on February 6th, the notes came due. Thousands of those buildings crumbled, toppled, pancaked, imploded into tombs. Coming up on today explained who's going to pay. Somebody needs to be held accountable for the fact that the whole system is designed to encourage this kind of building. The all new FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino is bringing you more action than ever. Want more ways to follow your faves? Check out our new player prop tracking with real-time notifications.

Or how about more ways to customize your casino page with our new favorite and recently played games tabs. And to top it all off, quick and secure withdrawals. Get more everything with FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600. Visit connectsontario.ca. It's Today Explained. I'm Noelle King. Ayla Jean Yackley is a freelance reporter in Istanbul. She writes primarily for the Financial Times,

and she's been covering the ongoing grief and shock and outrage and the people at whom the outrage is aimed, the contractors and developers who built poorly and the government that knowingly let it happen. that while Turkey has very modern building codes that are compliant, you know, with any country that isn't an earthquake zone, enforcement of those codes has been very poor. Structural engineers say steel reinforcement can deform to keep buildings from instantaneous collapse, but many of Turkey's structures appear to have been largely concrete. This is just something that is so vast of a problem. You know, there are estimates that half of Turkey's housing stock is not earthquake safe. And that has made resolving this problem, fixing it, very, very difficult.

Some buildings appear to have completely collapsed, with floors stacking on top of each other, what's known as pancaking. This is the worst-case scenario when it comes to earthquake performance. It's also the fact that there is corruption in the system as well, that people are given construction permits. I've heard things like you're able to quote unquote rent an architect, essentially with a rubber stamp, your building project, so that you can get approval at the municipality.

There is a lack of inspections both during construction to ensure that the correct material is being used but also after these buildings go up. If you look at those flats, you can immediately see it's iron and cement. It is all due to a lack of proper building materials and the contractors who are thieves. And sometimes these buildings are rendered, you know, unsustainable after the contractor has walked away when a new owner in a building will do something like remove a load

bearing column. Seyhan and her husband Ali Chai survived. Their 17-year-old nephew is believed to be trapped. This building was the only one of five to collapse. Sehan suspects the structural integrity was compromised when a store on the first floor removed pillars without permission. It's a very entrenched and difficult problem, and it's something that Turks have known of for a long time, at the very least since 1999,

during the last devastating earthquake that killed more than 18,000 people. Investigations found many construction faults, including the use of corrosive beach sand in concrete. God does not create people so they can die. It's the contractors who kill people. It's the concrete that kills people. So it's a combination of all these forces that have made this earthquake so devastating, as well as just the sheer magnitude of this earthquake. It was huge. It happened at a very shallow level, and it was spread across a huge stretch of territory in southern Turkey.

Turks are aware that their buildings are not up to code. They've known it since the 1999 earthquake. What is behind this? In a country that gets hit by earthquakes quite often, how could this have happened? There's several factors. One of them is the influence of the construction industry, both on the economy and on politics. There are estimates that the construction business accounts for about 10% of GDP, and Turkey has an $800 billion economy. So it's a very big, very powerful industry. There's also the matter that this is still, you know, a developing economy where people very much aspire to live in new apartments and developments, but often maybe cannot, you know, afford the real cost that it would take

to use enough steel and quality concrete to build. There's a huge demand for housing here, that even despite having such a large construction industry, they're unable to meet. And then there are also cultural factors. The president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has blamed fate for the fact that this was such a devastating earthquake. When President Erdogan visited her town yesterday,

he said to have remarked the disaster was part of fate's plan. Fate, fate, there is no fate. Our fate is in our own hands. We write our own destiny. Earthquakes don't kill people, but buildings do. And that's very much rooted in a kind of religious outlook on life, that in the end, it's not really up to you whether you'll live or die, but it's in the hands of God.

Of course, you could argue that God expects you to take some basic cautionary measures, but there's also this almost fatalistic approach to it. Ayla, we've been hearing a lot about something called building amnesty in Turkey. What does that term mean? Basically what it means is that buildings or even an extra story that wasn't in the planning permit are regularized. And so every few years, usually ahead of an election, the government will offer owners of such properties to register and legalize essentially their illegal structure. Up to 75,000 buildings across Turkey's earthquake zone have

been given some form of construction amnesty, according to one trade group cited by the BBC. This is something that initially started. It was aimed at the new urban poor. Beginning in the middle of the 20th century, millions of people left rural Turkey to move to the industrial west, swelling the populations of cities like Istanbul and Ankara, and oftentimes had to live in shanty towns on the outskirts of the city. And so in order to bring them water and electricity, governments would regularly formalize these settlements. So that's how it started. And I think that's important to note that it was aimed at helping people who were squatting effectively in slums. But in more recent years, that's not as much of an issue. People aren't moving into those kinds of settlements. whether they've built a building or even a complex of buildings without the proper permits, without proving that they'd used the correct materials who are applying,

and without any questions asked and without a proper inspection to go along with it, they're able to effectively avoid paying fees and avoid the structure being demolished. The last amnesty came in 2018 ahead of President Erdogan's last re-election bid. And in that amnesty, the government wound up approving more than 7 million applications that gave legal status to buildings that had breached all sorts of building rules, everything from design and safety to the actual licensing. And it's important to note here that these amnesties do cost those applicants money. Critics point to Turkey's numerous construction amnesties, most recently in 2018, which allowed illegal buildings to be given a certificate of approval if they paid a fee. You know, the government was able to raise 24 billion lira, which was worth at the time about $4.2 billion through registration fees. And that has been something that the opposition has picked up on, saying, you know, not only did you allow for these buildings to serve effectively as tombs for the people who've been trapped under them since last week's earthquake.

But you took money on top of it. The country was unprepared for this, says this opposition leader, despite the government of President Erdogan collecting billions in earthquake taxes, he says. While these amnesties are probably the most glaring example of how illegal buildings can go up and stay up in Turkey. It's important to note that it's the entire system. It's the fact that Turkey has something like 400,000 licensed contractors. That compares to Germany, which has a similar population, where they have about 3,000 contractors. So it's a huge source of employment. It's a sector that the government has very much supported.

It sees construction as a locomotive for the Turkish economy. It's a major employer of low-skilled workers. And for all of those reasons, it's been given a pass for a very long time. And you said that the most recent one was in 2018 ahead of Erdogan's last election bid. Are you saying that Erdogan and other leaders are doing this in order to get elected, to get people's votes? They are, surprisingly. They're popular measures. It is something that's done. It's both a means of raising revenue for the government. That's important to note. But face pressure from those companies to see these through. They have also come to expect these. I mean, once you've made this a traditional pre-election campaign promise, people will act accordingly.

And it has shaped behavior over the years. So when a contractor is unable to or unwilling to perhaps pay for what it would cost to build an extra floor, and he'll realize that it won't get demolished, he'll just have to wait it out for the next pre-election promise. So it has benefited that industry in particular. Is there bribery in any of this? There are accusations of that, that that's part of the process. So if you are at the local municipality and you're trying to get approval for your design or to go ahead and start construction, you might need to grease the wheels to make that

happen. And that is considered a wide practice. In terms of at Erdogan's level, what we do know is that there are very entrenched patronage networks in Turkey. We know that there are close relationships between certain construction companies and the government. It's very opaque. We don't have the insight on how exactly these work, but it's important to note that those companies that are very well known, they're not necessarily building a five-story apartment block in a provincial capital of Turkey. These are companies that are building roads, airports, bridges, things of that nature, at least the big names that we know of. And the way that I understand these networks to work is that you win a tender for a government project, you might donate money to the ruling party, or you might

maybe donate a floor of apartments in a new development to an influential person in the party that is able to affect decisions in the municipality. These are the allegations. But as you can imagine, when it comes to this kind of illegal behavior, we don't really know exactly what's happening. There has been some research into it. There's been allegations of it, but we have no idea of the extent of it. Do we know how widespread these building amnesties are? Like what percentage of buildings in Turkey may have been granted amnesty? I don't have the number since, you know, 1948, but it would be

in the tens of millions. I can say that 7.4 million applications benefited from the 2018 amnesty. And so there's been dozens of these. So if we extrapolate that, obviously some of these buildings may have fallen down in previous earthquakes or have since been demolished and replaced with something else. But suffice it to say, it's extremely widespread and it's very much a fabric of the building business in Turkey. Coming up next, what justice might look like when that fabric is frayed by corruption. Thank you. by Wirecutter. AuraFrame is to make it easy to share unlimited photos and videos directly from your phone to the frame. When you give an AuraFrame as a gift, you can personalize it, you can preload it with a thoughtful message, maybe your favorite photos. Our colleague Andrew tried an AuraFrame for himself. So setup was super simple. In my case, we were celebrating my grandmother's birthday,

and she's very fortunate. She's got 10 grandkids. And so we wanted to surprise her with the Aura Frame. And because she's a little bit older, it was just easier for us to source all the images together and have them uploaded to the frame itself. And because we're all connected over text message, it was just so easy to send a link to everybody. You can save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carvermat frames with promo code EXPLAINED at checkout. That's A-U-R-A-Frames.com, promo code EXPLAINED. This deal is exclusive to listeners and available just in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions do apply. BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA,

has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your

basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a slam dunk, an authorized gaming partner of the NBA. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. It's Today Explained. We're back with Ayla Jean Yakli, who's a freelance journalist based in Turkey. Now, as the Turkish public's rage has grown, the government is moving, maybe even moving quickly. Dozens of building contractors from this region have been detained, suspected of cutting corners with devastating consequences.

Isla, what's happening to the developers, the ones who built the buildings that collapsed in this earthquake? There's been several high-profile arrests of people, including one contractor who was allegedly fleeing the country. There's CCTV of him trying to get through passport control within days of the country. There's CCTV of him trying to get through passport control within days of the earthquake. Are there police posted at the airports waiting for these folks? What's going on? Not necessarily. I mean, that particular figure was detained after authorities were given a tip that he was trying to leave the country,

at least according to reporting by the state newswire. I think a lot of people actually aren't trying to flee for one reason or another, perhaps because they're willing to accept responsibility are remaining in Turkey. Others are actually denying that they are responsible for the collapse of buildings. But the focus on the legal side for now seems to be mainly on these contractors and other people associated with buildings that have collapsed. We haven't seen anyone in the government at any level really assume responsibility, say, for issuing permits for buildings that weren't designed to withstand even far smaller earthquakes. We haven't seen anyone held responsible for that. That might come after an investigation

that does require a lot of legwork, including going to the scenes of thousands of buildings, taking samples of the concrete. But the initial response has been directed at these contractors. And that, I think, shows that the government is hearing the outrage and wants to address it in one form or the other. The 10 provinces that have been affected by this earthquake have set up their own investigations unit. They're calling it earthquake crimes. And it's precisely to pinpoint, arrest and prosecute people who have been involved in knowingly developing buildings that cannot withstand earthquakes. It may not go far enough. Somebody needs to be held accountable for the fact that the whole system is designed to encourage this kind of building. But at this stage, that's where we are. And people are calling for much more in-depth and thorough investigations,

but they are concerned that those might not ever happen. How is Erdogan defending himself? I imagine many millions of Turks have now put two and two together. We were around while the government was granting amnesty. Now a lot of the buildings have fallen and a lot of people are dead. The problem here is the president. What is Erdogan saying? He hasn't responded directly to that kind of reaction. Erdogan's main thrust is to focus on what he calls national unity, while often criticizing the opposition for what he says is exploiting this tragedy to gain political points. And he's also talked about how Turkey needs to heal its wounds rapidly. And the best way to do that, it would seem, you know, according to his statements,

is to remove the debris and begin the rebuilding process. And he has promised that Turkey will rebuild hundreds of thousands of buildings within a year. I gave instructions to rebuild homes within a year. We, the government, will remove the debris and accelerate the reconstruction effort. And other measures he's taken is, you know, they have responded with earmarking a lot of funds for people who've been made homeless. They're offering help from the state in terms of rental support or other housing support. So it's also about direct aid. There's a few measures he has taken while still trying to keep the economy afloat. So there's been also

some interventions on the economic front, including in the stock market, to try and keep it from falling. So it's just been about kind of rapid response to immediate needs. So you've laid out a couple of things that need to happen, including, it sounds like, some criminal investigations. How does that factor into the way the debris is being removed? Is there a concern that evidence is essentially being taken out of play? There are people who are voicing concern about that now. To mount a criminal case or even a civil case, say, against the contractor who you blame for the collapse of a building, you have to provide very specific evidence. You need to take particular samples from the wall of the structure, from the foundation of the structure. You need a lot of evidence.

And this idea of, well, we need to quickly clear these areas so that we can start rebuilding might, on one hand, appeal to people who are very eager to get into new houses. On the other hand, it could really make it difficult to prosecute anyone. And that is what happened after 1999. There were very few prosecutions. Only a handful of people were ever jailed for the devastation that was experienced after that earthquake. And there is a fear that that could happen again now. Are there other countries that Turkey may be looking to in order to determine how to rebuild. Mexico City, 1985, immediately comes to my mind. Are you aware of any chatter around where Turkey should look?

Everyone talks about Japan and how Japan is able to build buildings that can withstand even greater magnitude earthquakes than the one that Turkey suffered last week. And they also talk about the culture of Japan in which, at least according to the reporting that is being done on Turkish television, that there is a code of honor that you wouldn't build buildings that will later serve as tombs for people. So it's Japan more than any other country that people here are talking about. Do you envision a scenario in which we just get a repetition of the mistakes of the past?

Or is this event so catastrophic that Turkey simply cannot keep operating the way it's been operating? That's very much the hope, that this is a turning point, that going forward, the mistakes of the past won't be repeated. But I see the point that you're raising, just the sheer speed with which they want to rebuild does create risks.

The hope is that finally lessons from really centuries of earthquakes will finally be learned after this one. But it really does depend upon everything from the funds that can go into this. Turkey's economy was ailing even before the earthquake hit. And while it has been pledged billions of dollars in international aid to help with both the relief and the reconstruction effort. Estimates for the reconstruction effort are varying widely, but the lowest number I've seen is about $20 billion. And to come up with that kind of money within a year might encourage some of the bad behavior that we've seen today.

Isla Jean Yackley. She's a freelance reporter who writes for the Financial Times. Today's episode was produced by Avishai Artsy and edited by Matthew Collette. It was fact-checked by Laura Bullard and engineered by Paul Robert Bouncey. I'm Noelle King. It's Today Explained. Thank you.