Turkey launches investigation into builders of collapsed houses

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Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Friday that legal investigations had begun against developers in regions hit by Monday's deadly earthquake, Turkish Anadolu news agency reported.

” ;Our chief prosecutors throughout the country have launched judicial inquiries into these events. Anyone who has committed shortcomings or negligence will be held accountable before the law,” Bozdag said at a press conference.

Bozdag said that 206 prosecutors have been appointed by the country's Council of Judges and Prosecutors to manage the trials of the victims areas.

Bozdag also said that necessary steps are being taken to arrest those responsible and ban their international travel.

On Tuesday, USGS Civil Engineer Kishore Jaiswal said CNN that Turkey has experienced major earthquakes in the past, including the 1999 earthquake that hit southwest Turkey and killed more than 14,000 people. Therefore, he said, many parts of Turkey have regional building codes that ensure that building projects can withstand such events.

But not all buildings were built to modern Turkish seismic standards. Costs in design and construction, especially in older houses, mean that many houses were designed and built with violations of seismic regulations and could not withstand the severity of the impacts.

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