Deadly lessons - Developers cut corners rather than heed costly guidance

After more than 17,000 people were killed in an earthquake near the Turkish city of Istanbul in 1999, authorities promised stricter building regulations and introduced an “earthquake tax” aimed at improving preparedness in a country that sits on two major geological fault lines.

- Bethan McKernan

After another quake in 2011 in which hundreds died, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, then the prime minister, blamed poor construction for the high death toll, saying: “Municipalities, constructors and supervisors should now see that their negligence amounts to murder.”

On paper, Turkish building safety standards are among the best in the world, and they are regularly updated with specific rules for earthquake-prone regions. Concrete must be reinforced with steel, and load-bearing walls and pillars must be distributed in such a way to avoid “pancaking”, when floors stack up on each other after collapsing vertically. But Turkish and international geologists, urban planners, architects and earthquake response specialists warned for years that even many modern structures constituted “rubble in waiting” because building codes had not been properly followed.