Erdogan wants safer villages

ISTANBUL –Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan announced in a speech on Wednesday morning that he wants to make villages in earthquake areas safer. In the villages practically all houses that were built with ‘mud bricks’ collapsed in the strong earthquake that hit the area on Sunday. ‘We want sturdy houses there of not more than one floor’, he said.

Erdogan didn’t give details about the plans to make the villages safer. He lashed out at builders who still don’t follow construction regulations. Dozens of apartment complexes turned out to be not resistant to the quake, as were complexes built in the last ten years, which should have complied with stricter rules. He compared constructors, municipalities and supervisors who neglect the rules to murderers.

The apartment complexes that were built on the outskirts of cities by the national government for people with middle incomes have all survived the earthquake, the ministry announced.